Tamer of the Dragon
by ElementalMaiden97
Summary: With her parents' disappearance and discovery of her new powers, Kimiko Mushimora has been through a lot. And now she and her brother are being forced to live with the Spirit Detectives. What else could go wrong for her! rated just in case. HieiXOC [Hiatus] thinking about re-writing
1. Prologue

_I'm going the disclaimer over with: Yu Yu Hakusho and the characters in the series do not and never will belong to me. All the other character (such as such as villains, Kimiko, Kori, Yumi, and all others in likeness to them) do belong to me. Thank you and enjoy the story._

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_'A girl with mid-back length hair that was black with a ruby tint (and ruby bangs) was running through a forest; her emerald green eyes moved in quick, darting movements as she searched for something—or someone. An object to her left caught her eye; she slowed her pace and veered in said direction. The girl came to a stop in front of the object that had caught her attention: a boy with black, gravity-defying hair that had a blue tint to it and a white starburst over his bangs. He was lying against a tree for support and one hand was holding his stomach; blood covered said hand and was starting to permeate his light blue sleeveless shirt. The girl couldn't determine how far down the blood had gone because the stain from the blood disappeared as it reached his black pants he donned. His breath was labored when the girl had first seen him; however, soon after the girl appeared, his breath became more natural and the pained expression on his face disappeared as well._

_'The girl positioned herself so that she was next to him and knelt down while gently placing his head on her lap. His facial expression began to soften even more when she started to comb her fingers soothingly through his soft hair whilst muttering, "Hiei, don't die on me…" repeatedly to herself; her eyes slowly started to fill to the rim with unshed tears._

_'His closed eyelids opened to reveal crimson irises. A weak smirk played across his lips as his gaze met hers. "Don't be stupid Onna; I've lived through worse." His voice had a slight raspy tone to it because of his pain. However, his pain did not matter to the girl in that moment as she glared down at him causing a few tears to slip out and run down her cheeks. A few tears fell on the boys cheek as well._

_'"Well, forgive me for worrying about your well-being," she snapped at the boy in her lap. After a couple seconds of silence had passed (the duration of which, she was glaring at the boy), she sighed while her eyes closed. With her eyes still closed, she asked, "Do you need help getting to the house?" The silence that followed the question gave the girl the incentive to open her eyes. The boy was staring at her, his eyes clouded with thought. "Well? Do you?" she asked, impatience obvious in her voice._

_'A few seconds of mental debate resided within the boy as he decided whether or not he needed—or wanted for that matter—the girl's help. His decision, however, was made for him when a jolt of pain resounded through his abdomen, causing him to flinch and grunt in pain as a reaction. The girl heard his grunt and took action by standing and picking him up, shifting him onto her back. He opened his mouth to protest, but she beat him to the punch by saying, "You're hurt—I heard your grunt; I'm carrying you...Get over it Hiei. And learn to accept help when you need it." Her last statement was said on a sigh. The only response she received was "Hn" as she carried him to their destination._

_'As the two drew nearer to their destination, the boy—Hiei—fell asleep on the girl's back. She glanced back when she heard his breathing become lighter and slower; a small smile found its way onto her lips.'_

I was awoken from the dream that had been reoccurring over the last two weeks. In fact, this was the fifth time I have had that dream. I sighed out of annoyance and got out of my warm, comfortable bed to go and chase after my runaway alarm clock. "Clocky" (as the company who created my alarm clock called it) sounded like R2D2 on crack. It was programmed to roll off nightstands and start rolling around in random patterns (whilst making the "R2D2 on crack" sounds randomly as well) and would roll away whenever a person would get too close.

Once, I had gotten close enough and dove for it; the damned thing moved out of the way just in time to escape my clutches. So I started chasing it around my room; I tripped over a pile of dirty clothes. "Damn you Clocky," I muttered as I recovered from my fall. I finally caught the little bugger 10 minutes later; that reason is why I set Clocky 15 to 20 minutes earlier than when I need to actually be up and motivated.

So once I turned off and put away the damned object known as Clocky, I proceeded to prepare for the day ahead. After I finished (in record time, may I add), I bid my brother, Kori, goodbye. He reciprocated on my way out the door.

As I walked leisurely down the street toward my school, my thoughts drifted back toward my reoccurring dream. I had been wondering who that boy was ever since the first time I had had the dream. I did not know who he was; although I had a feeling I was going to be meeting him within the near future. What made me curious as well was the fact that I had a different hair style in the dream; instead of my normal black, wavy hair, I had a ruby tint and ruby bangs to go along with my black, wavy hair. It confused me, though I did like the hair style.

"Kimiko!" I turned around, only to get tackled in a hug by one of my best friends, Keiko.

"Hey Keiko, what's up?"

"No too much; although Yusuke's coming back from his trip tonight."

"Cool. I'm happy for you Keiko." She had told me all about the infamous Yusuke Urumeshi. From what she said, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't care for him; he sounded way too obnoxious for my taste. When I had mentioned that fact to her once, she tried to explain to me that he wasn't at all like I had pictured him; that he was a sweet guy that cared for his friends, but I didn't know for sure.

"You should come and meet him." I looked at my friend as if she were insane.

"Why would I want to go to his _Welcome Home_ party to meet him?"

"He wouldn't mind."

I then explained to her that it didn't seem like the appropriate time to go and meet someone. I bid her farewell once we reached the school and split to go to our classes and lockers.

After a boring day of classes, I met up with Keiko and Yumi. Yumi is the other best friend of mine; she has blond hair, blue eyes, and an attitude that could match Satan's at times.

"Hey girly, what's up?" Yumi commenced with the small-talk as we walked to our houses. Somehow, we managed to get back on the topic of Yusuke's returning. Yumi suggested that we should go.

"Thank you!" Keiko then proceeded to explain how she, too, had tried to convince me to go to the party. Yumi then decided that it was time to play "Try to Convince Kimiko to go Even When She Doesn't Want To." It didn't work.

"Look girls, I'm sorry but I don't think it's right to go to someone's _Welcome Home_ party when you've never met the person. I'm sure I'll meet him later on, but I'm not going." After the looks of disappointment invaded their facial expressions, I added, "Besides, my brother wouldn't allow me to go even if I wanted to." They relayed their grumbles of annoyed compliance, and we went our separate ways to our houses.

The only reason I was listening to my brother was because my parents were on a business trip for a few months. I listened to him, but only until our parents got back; then it's back to pretty much ignoring his existence, like usual.

As I walked into the house, I called to Kori that I was home. He gave a small acknowledgement while I went into my room. I completed my homework and browsed the internet the rest of the night, stopping only to eat. I got ready for bed and laid down while getting comfortable. As I drifted off to sleep, the same reoccurring dream began to play through my mind.


	2. 1 Upside Down

_Okay, so this is the next part/chapter. Thank you all for reviewing, fav-ing this story, and anything else that I haven't mentioned. No, there is not Hiei yet, and there won't be (at least not of Kimiko's knowledge) for a while. I believe in slow progress; I believe it adds to the story if you don't jump straight to when the two main characters meet. Hiei's and Kimiko's relationship will be a slow development as well...you have been warned. :) Anyway, on with the story. :)_

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((Please do read the memo part of this story, it might give you information you might need or want, enjoy the story))_

The next day was quite boring…until around the time lunch rolled around. Keiko, Yumi, and I were eating outside and Keiko was telling us what happened the previous night at the _Welcome Home_ party for Yusuke.

"Well, Yusuke didn't show up last night, so I guess it was a good thing that you two didn't come; it would have been for nothing." She was struggling not to sound depressed and was doing a fairly good attempt at it. But one of the perks of being someone's best friend is that you can distinguish whether or not they're putting up a facade or being truthful.

"Keiko, you poor thing, we're so sorry that the jerk didn't show up," I said as I pulled my depressed friend into a comforting hug; Yumi joined soon after.

"I guess I should have known that he wouldn't come…but I still want him back." Her eyes were starting to fill with tears; this made my distain grow for the boy Keiko had given her heart to (even though she still deigns it).

"You really shouldn't care so much for a guy who does this to you all the time. It can't be good for your health," Yumi said while placing her hands on her hips as we separated from our group hug.

"You don't understand. Yusuke's really sweet, he's just—"

"Keiko!" The infamous Kuwabara came running up to our small group, which was a little odd seeing as how Yumi and I didn't get along well with him. Once he had gotten close enough, Keiko stood; Yumi and I were right behind her.

"What is it Kuwabara?" Keiko asked while Kuwabara recovered from his run.

During his recovery from his run, Kuwabara panted out, "Yusuke's back. He's coming here after school to pick us up; then we'll get Suichi and Shrimp."

Keiko's demeanor completely lit up with joy at the news of Yusuke's return. "Great!" She checked the time. "Oh! We need to head to class!" She had drug Yumi and me behind her as she called to Kuwabara, "I'll see you later. Bye!"

…

After classes were finished for the day, Keiko forced Yumi and me to wait with her and meet Yusuke…much to my protests. Kuwabara and a guy with black, slicked back hair (who I supposed was Yusuke) approached us.

"Hey Keiko."

"Yusuke!" She ran up to him and gave him a tight embrace. After the hug, she smacked his arm with a small scowl on her face. "You jerk, why didn't you show up last night?"

He gave a nervous laugh but spoke seriously. "Can't we wait to discuss this a little later?" After a moment's hesitation, she agreed.

"Yusuke, before we go, I want you to meet my two friends." He whispered something in her ear to which she nodded impatiently to. "Yusuke, this is Kimiko and Yumi. Kimiko and Yumi, this is Yusuke." We exchanged greetings; mine slightly colder than the other two. Then the trio excused themselves and left Yumi and me alone.

"You thinking there's something up with him?" I answered Yumi's question with a "Yep."

…

"Kori! I'm home!"

"About time," he said while he came out of the living room. He stopped not too far from me and grinned. My brother looked similar to me: black hair and green eyes; but his hair was short and spiked. "Got a surprise for you."

"What?" Kori led me into the living room. Sitting on the couch with smiles on their faces…were our parents. "Mom! Dad!" I ran to them and they enveloped me in a hug. "I missed you so much."

"But Kori took care of you." The statement came out as a question from my mother's mouth.

"Of course," Kori defended himself.

"It's just not the same," I explained, saving his ass in the process.

…

I was lying in bed waiting for sleep to come to me a few days after my parents' return. While I laid there, my thoughts drifted to how much I had missed my parents and how good it was to have them back.

My eyes started to close and I was just about to fall asleep when a loud crash from downstairs woke me in an instant. I was finishing putting on some actual clothes (instead of my girl boxers and tank top that I had donned for sleepwear) when Kori came in my room; thankfully, I had just finished pulling on my clothes.

"Kori, what's going on?" He had started to rummage through my closet looking for something.

"I need you pack, and make it fast." He threw the objects he was looking for at me: a large duffle bag and a nap sack.

"Why?"

He looked me directly in the eye. "Kimi, I need you to follow my instructions without question, okay? I'll explain things later." I reluctantly agreed. So with Kori's help, I had finished packing within minutes. "Out the window." I looked at my brother as if he were insane. We were on the second story of our house. "Just do it; you won't get hurt. Go." The handle to my door started jiggling; Kori had locked it the first moment he came in my room. "Go! I need you to go somewhere safe. I'll get a hold of you when I can. Go!" His voice was urgent and commanding, yet there was a small part of torture and fear mixed in.

I jumped out the window and used the gutter to climb my way down to the ground. Kori tossed my bags to me out the window. After one last glance, I ran to the first person's house that I thought of: Keiko. As I ran, tears started running down my cheeks. Then it started raining. _'Great…mood weather.'_

…

Once I reached her house, I knocked frantically on the door to the ramen shop her family owned. Her father answered the door.

"Kimiko, what's wrong?" he asked once he saw it was me, the fatherly concern over-ruling every thought of common sense.

"Is Keiko home?"

"No, I'm sorry. She's with Yusuke and his friends." Even though it was about 11:30 at night. "I'll call her. Come on inside and out of the cold," he said as he motioned me inside and took my bags and set them on the ground. Once that was done, he retrieved the phone.

He called her and told her what was going on (I had told him that I had to get out of the house for a while and he had given me an odd look; my face was slightly swollen from my tears and I was just regaining my breath when he asked…now that I thing about it, I would have done the same thing) and Keiko said she would be on her way with Yusuke and another friend.

Keiko arrived a short time later. Once she saw me, she embraced me in a hug, abandoning Yusuke and the stranger at the door. She took us upstairs into her room. "What happened? You look like something else happened tonight other than what you told Dad." She could almost always read me like a book; but it went both ways, which is why we were so close.

I glanced at Yusuke and the other person he and Keiko had brought with them. The guy had long red hair and green eyes that were about the same color as mine. He looked nice enough, he even offering me a gentle smile when I glanced in his direction, but I wasn't in the mood nor mindset to talk to anyone other than Keiko. So I lied.

"I…don't really know." Keiko may know and trust the two boys, but I did not. So I was not going to talk about my family matters and what had just happened around them—even though I didn't really even know what exactly happened. Keiko caught on to my lie quickly, but it was the stranger who spoke up first.

"Yusuke, I think it's best if we leave and allow Keiko to handle her friend as she sees fit." The red-head had a soothing voice and I was almost convinced to tell all of them what happened; the key word here being "almost".

"I'm not going anywhere." _'Okay, he has _officially_ moved to the "jack-ass" category of people in my book.'_

"Yusuke, go. I'll tell you of anything that would need to be worried about by you. I know Kimiko; she won't talk unless she knows everyone present, and seeing as how she has only met you once and Suichi not at all, she won't talk. Now, go." _'Is there some point to talk about me as if I'm not here?'_

"You know, she's right." There was a hint of venom in my tone. I was tired, angry, confused, and very agitated with them for ignoring my presence at the moment and my emotions were finding their way into my voice…some emotions more than others. "I don't know you or Red, so I'm not talking." My eyes were narrowing into slits as I talked. I didn't care that this was the infamous Yusuke Urumeshi; the one who all the rumors were about or that Red looked harmless and inviting for me to be comfortable around him or that I normally didn't act this way and felt a little guilty because of it. I pushed all feelings and thoughts aside as I kept my glare firmly in place.

After a short silence had passed amongst us, Yusuke finally agreed to leave; Red left right behind him, offering another gentle smile my way. I dismissed it and looked at Keiko.

"So what happened?"

I explained how Kori was acting after the crash happened, the door to my room trying to be opened without a noise, and Kori's face as I ran away. "It was as if he thought he'd never see me again. It broke my heart." The tears that had started right after I had begun my tale were slowing and almost at a stopping point.

"That doesn't sound good. I'll have Yusuke and his friends check it out." I asked her if that was a wise decision. She answered with a small smile on her face. "Believe me; they can take care of themselves. All we have to worry about now is you." I nodded my head in silent agreement.

_'How did my world get turned upside down in just one night? It doesn't seem possible…'_


	3. 2 Monster

Keiko had me staying with her. The following day, Yusuke and his three friends (Keiko told me there were three friends) took a look at my house.

When they came back (well Red, Kuwabara, and Yusuke came back), they brought the news that they had found nothing. The news scared me, and yet I was relieved at the same time. When Keiko talked with me once the boys left, I explained my emotions farther to her.

"I'm scared, yet relieved. I'm scared because their finding nothing means that my parents and Kori are gone, but I'm relieved because them finding nothing means that my family might still be alive. I just hope that my family made it to somewhere safe." That was Saturday.

…

It was now Monday and I had yet to hear from Kori. I was starting to worry that he and my parents were gone. _'I hope they're okay.'_

After school, I got a call from Kori. I was near Keiko and Yusuke when he called.

"Kori? Kori are you okay? How are Mom and Dad? What's going on?"

_"Calm down Kimi. I'm fine, but I don't know how Mom and Dad are; I'm not with them. They left a bit before you did the other day."_

"But why would they do that and why haven't you answered my other question?"

He sighed and continued to speak, _"Kimi, I need you to come back to the woods behind our house after school tomorrow. I need you to come…alone. Do you understand?"_

"Yeah, but why do I need to go back there and why alone? Kori, answer me damn it!"

The call was disconnected after that. Keiko asked me what happened and what Kori and I talked about. I explained to her everything that happened; Yusuke listened closely as well. Yusuke was the first to speak. "There is no way you are going back there alone."

"And why the hell not?" He was really starting to get under my skin.

Keiko stepped in for him. She was the person who could normally make me see reason. "Kimi, don't you think it was weird that he said that you needed to come alone, but that there was a pause between come and alone? What about the fact that he didn't answer many of your questions? Normally he would explain things to you, wouldn't he?" I agreed that it was weird of him to do those things and that he normally would explain things to me. "Don't you think something is going on? Like a dangerous something?"

"Well, now that you put it that way, yeah. But what I don't understand is who would want to do this to my family." The three of us were quiet the rest of the way to Keiko's.

As school ended the following day, Keiko and I said goodbye to Yumi and made our way to my house. Keiko stopped before she was too close to my house and gave me a hug. The previous day after we made it to Keiko's, the boys, Keiko, and I came up with a plan about how to handle this situation. Keiko and I went over the plan once before we departed. "One or two of the boys are going to be with you. You won't see or hear him unless you need him, and I pray that you won't. Please, be careful." She gave me another hug and I walked the rest of the way to the woods on my own.

"Kori? Where are you?" I heard a noise and walked in that general direction. I came out in a clearing; I didn't see anything when I looked around. "Kori?" The bushes to my left moved; I whirled around to see what was there and saw Kori standing there. "Kori," I said on a sigh of relief. "Thank God." I went to move toward him, but Kori told me to stay put. Confusion crossed my features. "Why?"

…

From the bushes behind Kimiko and her brother Kurama and Hiei watched as Kimiko dealt with her "family issues."

"This onna is a moron, Fox."

"Give her some slack, Hiei. She hasn't been trained like we have, nor does she possess our sight or hearing."

"Hn." The two demons kept their conversation to a minimum, but when they did speak, they spoke in hushed tones. Hiei's eyes darted to the place directly behind the girl's brother. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he started to decipher what exactly was behind the boy. His eyes rolled when he realized it was a measly low-class demon. Hiei told the fox, Kurama, telepathically what was happening, and Kurama went to take care of the job…until the boy suddenly straightened and stood extremely still, his eyes wide. _'This doesn't look good.'_ Hiei silently agreed.

…

I stared at Kori in confusion. "Kori, what are you doing?"

He did not respond, but an eery voice laughed. "You truly are a stupid little girl, aren't you?" It laughed again. "Did you really think your brother would ask you to come here alone for no reason?" It laughed yet again. "Poor fool. Now you will join your brother in" The voice was cut off as someone jumped in front of me. After a second I saw that it was Red. He stood in front of me in a defensive position. I looked around Red and saw that my brother seemed to be frozen in place, but his eyes were darting around very quickly. Then Kori's eyes widen again as he is yanked backwards and back into the bushes. I heard something that sounded like a skin on skin punch, or something to that effect…then silence. I went to step around Red but he held me back gently. I looked back at him but he wasn't looking at me, and his eyes were cold and narrowed instead of the gentleness that normally resided in his eyes.

After a second or two, Red sighed and stood in a more relaxed position. "Let's get you back home." I was about to say that we wouldn't be going to my house, but I decided better of it and nodded slowly. I sighed as my thoughts were flooded with confusion and sadness. My brother was taken away from me again and I still had no idea as to what the hell was going on. We briskly walked to Keiko's.

…

That night, Keiko reluctantly went on a date with Yusuke. Yusuke gave his number to me to which Keiko said, "If anything happens, call and we'll be right there." When it had come time for her to leave, Yusuke literally had to drag her out the door. Her parents left not too long after to do some shopping and spend some quality time together, so they wouldn't be back so a while. I sighed once I was alone and locked the doors. I went to the back of the store and started washing dishes to get my mind off of the things that plagued my mind ever since I had been delivered back to Keiko's by Red earlier that day.

As I was finishing the last load of dishes, the bell over the door sounded. "We're closed!" No answer. Then I remembered that I had locked the door before I started washing dishes and terror set in. I ran as quickly and quietly as I could to a hiding place and pulled out my phone and the slip of paper that had Yusuke's number on it.

I pushed the last number and was about to hit send when I was roughly pulled from my hiding place and forced to gaze upon the most disgusting creature I had ever seen. It was blue with two horns jutting out of its skull. It was also covered in scales of some sorts; some of the scales were peeling off. Its eyes were red, and its teeth were jagged, sharp, and decaying. Its breath smelt foul and reminded me of blood and decomposing flesh, though I had no idea as to how I knew that.

"A delicious human," when it spoke, I almost hurled. It took a whiff of my scent and continued to speak, "and at such a ripe age." It licked its purple lips. "You shall taste absolutely delectable in my stomach." By this time I had started to struggle to not only get free, but also to get away from its rank breath. I started kicking wildly as it opened its mouth, and on instinct, my hand shot out in front of me and I squeezed my eyes shut as a warmth of some sort overtook my hand.

My eyes snapped open as the thing dropped me to clutch its now burnt face. My eyes were wide as I scrambled to get away from the thing, pushing the send button on my phone along the way. I didn't dare stop to think about what happened or what I was saying as Yusuke answered his phone and words spilled from my mouth so fast Yusuke asked me to repeat what I said more slowly. "I said 'there's something over here and it's trying to eat me! Get your ass over here!'" There were colorful curse words said on the other end of the line as Yusuke realized what was happening (at least that made one of us).

I was roughly yanked backwards by the hair and lifted to face the beast once again. "You bitch, look what you did to my face! You will die for that!" Its voice was raspy and revolting, as was the rest of its being. It told me that my death would not be quick or painless.

I clenched my eyes tightly together and screamed, "Let go of me!" letting my instincts take over (seeing as how they worked so well the first time). The flood of heat that filled my body that followed was accompanied by a bright flash of light that shot out at the creature and surrounded me. As the creature dropped me and unconsciousess overtook my senses, I saw a flash of black and red.

…

Yusuke had called Kuwabara and Kurama (Hiei was with Kurama) and told them of what was happening with Kimiko. Seeing as how Hiei and Kurama were the fastest, they arrived before anyone else; Hiei was the first on the scene, followed shortly by Kurama. What they saw surprised them: The door was unharmed, but the demon that was controlling the girl's, Kimiko's, brother was inside. But what had surprised them the more was the fact that the demon was dead and its face was burnt a bit, while the girl, Kimiko, was shimmering with a faint silver color and was unconscious on the floor next to the corpse of the demon.

The others arrived shortly after the duo had discovered these facts. "Whoa, looks like the girl isn't completely useless after all," Yusuke said, earning a smack from Keiko.

"Of course Kimiko isn't useless. She's smarter than you all think she is; she just has some major blond moments at times," Keiko trailed off with a sigh.

"So what do you think happened?" Kuwabara asked as silence set in. By the time the others had arrived, Kimiko had stopped shimmering.

"I don't know, but we should tell Koenma," Kurama said, always being the voice of reason.

Hiei scoffed and said, "Like this ningen would be worth the child prince's time." A groan from the girl gained all of their attention.

"Shut up Shrimp! You should deliver the information to Koenma then, seeing as how you're the only one who doesn't think it's important." Kurama asked Kuwabara if that would even be productive, but Hiei agreed to go because "it would give him a chance to get away from all you idiots" as he said it. Shortly after Hiei left and the group had moved Kimiko into Keiko's room, Kimiko started to stir, and Keiko's parents returned home.

…

Noise (that I later defined as voices as consciousness came back to me) woke me up some time later. I groaned in pain and the noise stopped almost instantly. I wearily tried to open my eyes, but closed them almost immediately because the light was too great.

"Kimiko, are you all right?" That was Keiko's voice, I could tell that instantly. I merely nodded, opting to keep my eyes closed for a while longer. "What happened?" Now I opened my eyes, squinting until my eyes adjusted, and looked around. We were in Keiko's room and everyone was in there: Keiko, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Red, and Keiko's parents.

"Um, I don't really remember?" I decided not to include Keiko's parents in the explination of what happened and knew that they would leave shortly if I said that. Her parents asked if I was okay (again) and once they received the answer that I was, they left.

"So what really happened?" Keiko asked on a small laugh as she sat next to me on her bed. I explained exactly what happened, ignoring the three pairs of male eyes staring at me. After the explaination, the boys kept staring at me. Normally, I wouldn't have acted this way, but after I went through, I figured it would be okay. I turned and snapped at the nearest person (who happened to be Kuwabara) that staring was rude. "Ya know, staring is rude, and it rather annoys me. So stop, before I give you all something to stare at." Kuwabara inched away from me and muttered something under his breath that I managed to hear a couple of words such as "Shrimp" and "evil." The other two boys laughed (or tried not to). "What's so funny?" Red dismissed the question with the wave of his hand.

"I assure you, it was not about you and it was an inside joke of sorts." I rolled my eyes and turned away from them and back to Keiko, opting to ignore them whenever I could.

Keiko leapt into action, taking control of the situation (as usual) and decided it was best if we (mainly I) stayed home the next day. I asked about her perfect attendance, but she dismissed the topic as nothing important.

"So what are we going to do tonight? About Kimiko's well-being that is," Red asked after a while.

Yusuke started thinking out loud, "Well, she could stay at our house, though I don't know how Binky Breath will take it…or we could stay here…hm…"

"I have a suggestion." They all turned their attention to me. "I know my house was invaded—or something—but there would be enough room for everyone to stay there, even if we all have to stay in the living room."

Yusuke shook his head. "No, too risky. Nice try though." I looked down in my lap sadly. They seemed to notice. "What's wrong?"

"I was suggesting that for a few reasons: one, there is more space at my house; and the other two reasons are because I wanted to get a few things from there and see the damage."

"Well…"

"Surely you are not actually considering Yusuke," Red said incredulously. "It's not wise."

They started speaking more quietly, though I could still hear them. "It wouldn't hurt if we let her go back there for a short while if all of us are there."

"Including the Shrimp?" Kuwabara asked in an annoyed tone. Yusuke nodded then turned to Red.

"Think you could get him here soon?"

"No doubt he has delivered the message to Koenma and left, but he is hard to find if he doesn't want to be found."

"Koenma told him to stay close just for cases like this," Yusuke argued. "Surely it couldn't be that hard to find him."

"His being confined to this city does not make a difference, Yusuke," Red said solemnly.

They continued their argument but Keiko distracted me with a question so I didn't hear the rest of the conversation. "So, what do you think of them now that you've been around them for a while?"

"Who, the boys?" Keiko nodded. "Not much, I mean I hardly know them. Yusuke seems okay, but he's still too much of a dick for my tastes. Kuwabara seems nice, but too stupid. Then Red seems like a gentleman, but there's a mysterious aura around him."

"It seems you favor Suichi, huh?" Keiko asked in a teasing manner. Unknown to me, the boys looked over in time to see a small blush dust my cheeks as I deigned every word that had Keiko said. She gave me an amused, but disbelieving look as the boys looked at us confused, especially Red. Keiko was about to reply to my lie when she looked out the window and froze. "Um, boys, I don't think you have to worry about finding the fourth member of your party." We all looked out the window and saw…


	4. 3 Reunited

We all looked out the window to see a figure walking down the street. The person was dressed in all black, had the hood up to the sweatshirt they wore, and had their head down while walking briskly toward the ramen shop. The person's head rose and looked directly at the window we were all staring out of.

As soon as I saw the person's face, my eyes widened and a small gasp escaped from my lips. Keiko turned her attention away from the approaching stranger to look at me. She asked me what was wrong. "That's Kori…I know it is," I said in an almost breathless way. My breath was coming out in short bursts; my mind was awhirl with questions about everything weird that had taken place in my life up until now.

"Are you sure that's your brother? It doesn't really look like him," Keiko said as she stared at him.

"I know it is." I got up and rushed out of the room. Red called after me to stop, that it might be a trap; I paid him no heed. I rushed out of the stairway and over to the door just as Kori was nearing the door. I burst out of the door and attacked my brother in a hug. Kori returned my hug as soon as he drug me back inside the shop (thanks to Red holding the door open). After a short silence, I demanded an explanation as to what had been happening over the past week or so. Kori had tried to weasel his way out of telling me, but I stopped his attempts at once.

"Kori, I am beyond confused as to what has happened since the night I was forced to leave and come here. I have been passed from person to person when it came to my well-being. I have been attacked by a thing that I don't know what the hell it was. Then, my brother is taken from me again and I was worrying that I would never see him again. And then to top everything off, my said brother comes back to me but doesn't want to explain to me anything about what has been going on!" My voice had gotten louder as I continued to speak until I was practically shouting at my brother. When I stopped speaking, my breathing was short and choppy (as I was panting) and I was glaring daggers at my brother who was staring at me blankly.

He sighed after a few moments and reluctantly began to explain to me what happened (but not before asking the boys and Keiko to give us some time alone). "Okay, ask me your questions and I'll answer them if I can."

"What happened the night I was forced to leave?"

Kori sighed and I could tell this was one of the subjects he really did not want to talk about (though normally I would not have made him talk about things he didn't want to, I wanted to understand what was happening around me). He began to explain that there were a few people that wanted our parents, and those people had succeeded in finding our parents (they had been in hiding before hand, apparently). One of the three broke into our house to catch our parents, but our parents had gotten away an hour or so before it happened. (Kori then told me that he had no idea where they were.) But before our parents had left, they had told Kori to make sure I was safe and protect me at all costs, which was why he had been caught instead of me.

"But why would Mom and Dad make you do that?"

"Because of what you could become."

"What do you mean?"

…

"What the hell could those two be talking about?" Yusuke wondered irritably.

"We will just have to wait and find out when Kimiko comes back up here with that brother of hers," Kurama said calmly, even though he, too, wanted to know what was being said between the two siblings.

"How the hell can you stay so calm Kurama? I want to know what the hell is going on, even if I have to beat the answers outta that boy," Yusuke exclaimed, his fist raised for an extra effect.

"Yusuke calm down! We all want to know what's happening," Keiko said, taking a calming breath after she finished speaking to her boyfriend.

A few quiet moments later, a moderately loud "What?" found its way up the stairs and into the group's ears. The boys and Keiko made their way down to where Kimiko and her brother were. Kimiko was staring at her brother in horror as he gazed back in an exasperated way.

"It's really not that bad," Kori said lightly.

"The hell it isn't!" Kimiko shrieked back. The group exchanged glances as the stared at the siblings.

"Um, what's going on?" Keiko asked slowly and carefully. Kimiko being in hysterics never ended well in Keiko's experiences.

…

I couldn't believe my eyes or ears. Kori had transformed into a guy with ice blue hair and icy blue eyes. He then showed me that he could freeze things. He quickly undid everything he froze and changed back into his other form, the one that I was used to. Kori then explained that demons were real and he and I were demons, as well as our parents. He didn't tell me what kind I was (though he had told me that he was an ice apparition) before I screamed out, "What?" The cavalry came quickly as the boys and Keiko came rushing down the stairs and into the room.

"It's really not that bad," Kori said nonchalantly.

"The hell it isn't!" I knew my screeching was unneeded, but it made me feel a little better.

"Um, what's going on?" Keiko had asked her question timidly, knowing how unpredictable I could be when I was like this.

"Kori just told me I was like the _thing_ that attacked me!"

"What do you mean you're like the thing that attacked you?" Yusuke asked annoyed.

"Exactly what I said," I said menacingly. Yusuke sighed while Kuwabara was quiet for a few seconds before grinning and laughing triumphantly.

"I knew she wasn't a waste of time. Shrimp was so wrong…just wait 'til I tell him all about it." Kuwabara started gloating more and more. During this time, the group sighed. Yusuke finally had enough and hit Kuwabara over the head, causing Keiko to start scolding Yusuke. Red cleared his throat and gained the attention of everyone.

"Did he tell you what kind of demon you are?" Red asked looking directly at me. When Red had said that, Kori stood in front of me in a protective manner.

"How do you know about them?" He glared at Red, who smiled.

"I'm sorry. We didn't tell you who we are did we?" When Kori was silent, Red continued and I started at Red curiously (as well as the rest of the group). "I apologize that we didn't introduce ourselves sooner, but we didn't really know what you already knew. I am Suichi Minamino, but you might have heard of my former being: Yoko Kurama. The guy over there is Yusuke Urumeshi, and that is Kazuma Kuwabara." As Red introduced each person, Kori became more surprised and tense.

Kori's eyes narrowed. "So you are the Spirit Detectives, huh?" He relaxed a bit. "I thought there were four people making up the Spirit Detectives."

"There are, our fourth member is somewhere else at the moment."

After everything settled down, Kori told them that he was an ice apparition and I was supposed to be an elemental demon, given the need and experience. Red was amazed when Kori had said that. I, personally, was still confused.

"So, what is the plan for tonight?"

Yusuke sighed, "We haven't quite figured that out yet. Your sister wants to see the damage to the house and get a few things, but we don't know if that is a wise decision or not, at least right now anyway."

"Why, because you don't have your fourth member? I can fill in for a bit if anything." Kori turned to me. "You sure you want to go there?" When I nodded, he said, "All right then."

"You're actually going to allow your sister to go there?" Red asked incredulously.

"She wants to go there so bad, and besides, there will be four of us protecting her, as well as her instincts. She should be fine." Everyone agreed.

"But it would probably be best to wait until early in the morning to go there. That way we don't have to worry about cops or one being out on the street to see anything, just in case something does go down," Red suggested. Everyone agreed again. We all rested for a little while before we headed over to Kori's and my house.

"So, what did you want from here exactly?" Kori asked as we walked inside. I told him that I wanted "things" and walked up to my room, or at least what used to be my room. The door had been broken into and had claw marks scoring the white wood.

"It must be saddening to come back and see your room in such a state." I jumped and turned to see that Red had followed me, as well as my brother. I sighed and agreed as I stepped over the broken bits of door and into my room.

It seemed that virtually everything was still in place, so I grabbed my computer and chargers, as well as my iPod touch that my parents had gotten me last Christmas. Kori quietly excused himself and Red stepped into my room and stood near me as I sighed again.

He asked if I was alright. I gave a dry laugh turned to face him. "You try growing up thinking you're normal, then have your parents disappear, your brother kidnapped, get attacked by a monster, then find out that you're like the thing that attacked you." He gave me a sympathetic smile.

"I know it must be hard but—get back." He pulled me back and behind him as he reached into his hair and pulled out…a rose? The thing that tried to capture me laughed.

"You plan to defeat me with a puny little rose?" It apparently had the same question as I did. Red smiled and raised his rose in the air and said, "Rose Whip!" The rose disappeared and was replaced by a vine-like whip with thorns on it.

As Red fought tall, dark, and ugly, I studied the monster's features. It looked like the first monster (demon) I fried; only this one was purple and had green hair as well as horns. That's when I was grabbed from behind and pulled against a red being much like the other two demons. I did the first thing I thought of: I screamed.

Red turned to check out what was wrong with me, but was cut by the demon's claws in the process. Red quickly finished off the first demon and turned to focus on the one that had me against its disgusting chest. Red went to take a step forward, but something cold was placed against my neck and he stopped. By this time, the others had arrived and Yusuke was cussing up a storm.

"If anyone tries to stop me, I'll chop off her head." The others glared at the beast and tightened their grips on their weapons. Kuwabara had a glowing sword, Yusuke had his fingers shaped in the form of a gun, Kori had turned into his demon form, and Red was heatedly glaring at the monster behind me, his fist clenched around his rose whip.

Just as the demon reached the window, I heard something being sliced with something metal then saw its head fly off and felt its grip loosen as it began to fall to the ground. I ran away from the vile beast and to the closest person to me, which was Red. Yusuke sighed as the person who saved me came into the room via window.

"About time you showed up Hiei. I was starting to think you had abandoned us," Yusuke said, a laugh in his voice.

"Hn. You idiots could die for all I care. I only came because Koenma forced me to."

I turned to face the person who had spoken and froze in my spot. In front of me was the guy from my dream, only he was a lot colder than he had been in the dream. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes were wide as I muttered, "Ho-ly. Shit…" He raised an eyebrow up at my reaction. The others seemed to notice as well because Red asked Hiei if he had ever met me before. Hiei shook his head.

My head jerked down as a blush coated my cheeks and I muttered that I was ready to leave. Yusuke shrugged and everyone, including Hiei, went back to Keiko's. I grabbed my things along the way.

As soon as we got back, I took off to Keiko; I had to tell her about how I had met the guy from my dream. I remembered the time when I had told her about my dream the second time it occurred and how she had said that she had a feeling that I would meet him in the future at some point.

She had no idea how right she was; and it was starting to seriously freak me out.


	5. 4 Into the Reikai

"So you finally met Hiei, huh? That was sooner than I had expected," Keiko said a little surprised.

"What do you mean by finally? And how long did you think it would take for me to meet him?"

Keiko shrugged. "I don't know, but you were bound to meet him if you kept hanging out with me." When I raised an eyebrow, she explained further. "Well, I'm with Yusuke a lot now that he's back, would've been called by his boss for a mission at some point. Hiei or Botan would have been the messengers, so it was bound to happen." She had said it like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.

"Explain to me again how you know you know Short Stuff," Yusuke said as they boys made their way up the stairs. Hiei glared at Yusuke, who just laughed.

I stared around the room as all the boys gazed at me curiously, especially my brother. I blushed at the amount of attention I was getting and started repeating, "Uh," over and over again. Keiko saved me by speaking for me. Sometimes I really do love her. "She doesn't." Yusuke spoke the confusion that resided within all the boys by asking Keiko to clarify what she meant. "She doesn't know him; how could she? She's never met him before." Red asked how I knew of him then. "Dreams." Did I mention that I hate her sometimes? All eyebrows were raised in surprise or confusion, and all eyes were directed my way. I sighed and took over talking, but not before sending Keiko a look that showed my annoyance with her.

"I've been having the same dream lately; for the past few weeks to be exact." Red prompted me to continue. "I'd rather not," I replied dryly. "Not everyone needs to know what my dream is about; besides, it's not really that important." Everyone stayed put for a few seconds, and then Yusuke stood up and drug Kuwabara out of the room. After they left, the only people that remained were Red, Hiei, and my brother (and of course Keiko and myself). "I don't suppose there's any way for either of you two to leave, is there?" I asked while I indicated that I was talking about Hiei and Kori. After all, the only person to really ask about my dream was Red, but I did suppose that Hiei would more than likely want to hear about it as well, seeing as how he was a part of the dream…Kori, however, I really had no idea as to why he would want to be in here, other than for more things that he could hold over my head; such a loving big brother have I, wouldn't you agree?

"Not a chance little sister. I want to hear this dream of yours," Kori stated grinning while placing his arms behind his head and getting into a comfortable position to listen to this dream. _'I figured as much…'_ I glanced at Hiei and only received an "Hn" in response.

I sighed and muttered, "I didn't think so," before beginning an explication (summary) of my dream. By the end, Red was lost in thought while the other two just stared at me; it was a little unnerving. Finally, Kori let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Really sis, you are a drama queen. That wasn't private or anything, geez." He stood, disappointed, and asked Keiko where he was sleeping. After receiving his answer, he walked out of the room and said he was going to bed. Hiei got up without a word and left through the window. A minute or two after the other two left, Red chuckled. "I suppose you didn't want to go into detail around those two." I nodded a small, sheepish smile on my face. "Well, now you can. Please, do continue." So I told Red the dream and he was a very good listener; he even saved his questions until the end when I finished speaking. "Is there ever any deviation from this dream?" Red asked. I told him that there was not. He looked pensive for a bit then asked a few more questions. The final question, however, slightly shocked me, "Did you sense any romantic auras in the dream?"

I stared at him for a second before I answered his question with a question, "You didn't?"

Everyone got up the next morning refreshed, but I was still in bed by the time that everyone else had gotten up and Kuwabara and Hiei had left. "Where's Kimiko?" My brother told Yusuke that I was more than likely still sleeping. "What the hell? It's 11:30 in the morning. What is she going to do, sleep the day away?"

Kori shrugged. "More than likely." Yusuke grit his teeth in annoyance and shouted, "That's it! I'm waking her ass up," as he stomped over to the stairs. At that moment, I was descending the stairs.

"Oh, good…You're awake. Hurry and eat or something so we can go," Yusuke said annoyed as he walked back down the few steps that he had climbed and out into the restaurant area of the house to sit down to wait for me to finish eating alongside Kori and Red.

"Where'd the others go?" I asked as Keiko gave me some ramen.

"Kuwabara left to go study for finals or something along those lines, and Hiei left last night I believe," Red explained to me as I ate.

"So why didn't you leave to study as well, Red?"

He raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but explained nonetheless, "I have no need to study; I know everything there is to know for the tests and then some…and I studied this morning before coming downstairs."

I laughed and finished my food, and we all walked out of the ramen shop and out onto the streets. We continued to walk until we were in the woods; then we still kept walking further into the woods. I finally spoke up after a while of walking. "So how much further is the place we're going to?" Red reassured me that it wasn't much further. As we continued to walk, I steadily got closer to Kori who was starting to become more alert to the threat of danger with every step we took.

We soon stopped walking and Yusuke and Red turned to us. "What's going on you two?" Kori commanded. Red gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, but we have to take you to go see Koenma. And besides, wherever he places you, you will be together and safer than you would if you were to stay here."

"Don't apologize Kurama; rules are rules. Now let's go you two."

Kori tried to get me to run, but I stood where I was staring at Kori like "_Why do I want to run away again?"_ Yusuke also gave me an incisive to stay, "If you try to get away, Hiei will easily catch up to you. So really, it's better for you both if you just come with us." After a second he added, "Please, we really don't want to force you to do this, but we will use force if necessary. Please?" I was quite surprised by his sudden change in tone. Yusuke asked again but added, "If Keiko found out I used force on you two (especially Kimiko), she'd kill me." I laughed because I knew how true it was; Keiko _would _want to kill them. I stepped forward.

"Kimiko, what the hell are you doing?" I turned to Kori.

"Didn't you trust them like…five minutes ago? So what if they are actually working for this guy named Koenma and wanting us to go and meet him. What's the worse they'll do? Kill us? Keiko would never forgive Yusuke (or anyone for that matter) if that happened, and I know how important Keiko is to Yusuke." Yusuke went to object but I said, "Oh please, don't deign it; I see the way you look at her." Kori thought about it for a second then stepped forward and joined the three of us.

Red smiled as I stood next to him. "Forgive us, but we have to blindfold you both for a few minutes."

"As long as you don't run me into anything, I'll be fine." Red chuckled lightly and placed the blindfold over my eyes. I heard Kori cussing and fussing quietly next to me and laughed lightly.

Red guided me by the shoulders as we continued to walk. Yusuke spoke something that sounded like "Wenma Oral" and I felt a rush of wind and a falling sensation as we took a few more steps. After a few seconds of standing around doing nothing, Red removed the blindfold from me eyes and I looked around, noticing that we were in an office of some sorts. There was a wooden desk with a large chair behind it and an even larger TV screen in front of the desk on the opposite wall; the room looked like it was for an important executive of a large business.

"Alright Binky Breath," Yusuke said slightly annoyed, "we're here."

"Yusuke, calm down. And stop calling me that! How many times do I have to tell you that?" I looked around the room confused as to where the voice was coming from. "Down here." I looked down and saw a toddler standing in front of me.

"Uh…" was the only thing I could think of to say at the moment. "Are you Koenma?" I heard Kori ask after a few moments of both of us staring at him. He confirmed that he was, indeed, Koenma. "I expected you to be a little…taller," Kori said still a little surprised about Koenma's appearance. I laughed to myself quietly.

"Well, we can't all live up to everyone's expectations," Koenma said walking over to his desk. After he managed to get into his chair, he looked at Kori and I seriously, which sort of freaked me out; you try having a baby look at you seriously. Exactly. "So, Kori and Kimiko Mushimora are your names, am I correct?" We both nodded. "Good. So, I have heard from some very reliable sources that you are both apparitions; Kori, you are an ice apparition; and Kimiko, you are an…elemental apparition. Obviously Kori, you understand your powers at least a little, but Kimiko, you seem to be ignorant of mostly everything of you kind." Kori nodded slightly while I looked away a little irked.

'_I want nothing to do with my _kind_ as he called them.'_ I thought angrily, though I knew I was being impractical; you can't pick what you are, you just have to deal with it.

"Kimiko, I understand this must be difficult for you, so I would like to talk to you alone for a little while. Until I am done, Yusuke and Kurama, you will escort Kori to the house I have provided for you all. Kori, please make yourself at home; it is where you and Kimiko will be staying until further notice." He waited until Kori and the boys had gone before he continued to speak to me, "Kimiko, what is it that you know about your kind?"

"I know only that demons exist and what Kori is; though he did tell me what I was, he didn't explain to me what exactly I was able to do. But I don't count myself in with those beasts."

Koenma sighed. "You have a lot to learn, and I will see if I can get a friend of mine to train you at least a little before I have another elemental train you." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to me, but I nodded anyway. Then he approached the topic of my denial. "Now Kimiko, if you don't accept what you are, then you will never realize your full potential. Perhaps when you train, you will learn to come to grips and appreciate what you are."

We talked a while longer before he called for Kori and Yusuke. He wanted to talk to Kori while Yusuke took me to my new home. I looked around the living room once we arrived (and after I got over the falling sensation when we came here via portal). I asked Yusuke which room was mine after I looked around the room a bit more: Hiei was on the windowsill and Red was in the kitchen cleaning and deciding what to fix for dinner. "Third door on the left upstairs" was the answer I received when I had asked. I walked up the stairs and into my room.

Thankfully, whoever decorated my room had good taste. The walls to my room were a red color and had a lot of posters all over them; it was almost as if the decorator had went to my room before it was trashed by the demon and picked up the exact posters that I had hanging on my walls, and the posters were all exactly the same, even the ones that I had signed by my favorite singers/bands: Adam Lambert and Maroon 5. The bed was a queen sized bed with red sheets and a black comforter; the pillows rotated between black and red, and I had four pillows. The floor was wood, though there were the occasional black throw rugs on the floor; one was in front of my bed. The curtains were black, and then I noticed that my bed was a canopy bed and the curtains on my bed were also black. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was white. I didn't mind the white ceiling; too much red and black was not a good thing for a room and it needed to be balanced by a brighter color, which was the white. As I walked closer to the window, I realized that there was a window seat there and the cushion was black while the fabric that held back my curtains were white. I looked around the room more and discovered that there were three doors leading from my room: One door led back into the hallway; another door was a double door (most likely a closet); and the last door led into the bathroom.

The bathroom was decorated similarly to the bedroom: Its theme colors were black, red, and white. The actual bathroom was all white, but the accessories were black and red. There was a tub/shower mix on the furthest wall from the door. The curtain for the shower was red, while the black rug in front of the tub was a stark contrast to the white tile floor. The scrubby in the shower was also red. The towels were red and black and the cover to the toilet was black. So far, I liked my new room a lot.

I walked out of the bathroom and over to the closet. I opened the doors (that were painted like a black, Japanese folding doors) and saw that it was a walk-in closet; it was also filled with all of my clothes and many new clothes as well. I stared at my closet in awe. It was official; I was in love with my new room. "I take it that you like your new room?" I looked over to my doorway and saw Yusuke leaning against my door, arms crossed with a cocky grin on his face. I offered a small smile in recognition to his presence and nodded. "Good." After a minute or two, he sighed. "Listen, I know there's a lot to get used to, but you're not alone during this transition into a new life; your brother is here with you, as well as all the guys, including myself," Yusuke said as he walked into my room and placed a hand on my right shoulder. After a second of thought he added while laughing, "We, maybe not Hiei; he doesn't seem to care for you; but then again, he doesn't care for many people." I gave a small laugh as well.

'_Well, maybe it won't be so bad here after all…'_

Dinner was finished, courtesy of Red, and we all gathered around the dining room table and partook of the meal that was prepared for us. (Kori had arrived back home about a half an hour before dinner was complete.) The meal that Red prepared was delicious; in fact, it was one of the most delectable dishes I had ever tasted. I gave my compliments to the chief, and a small, unnoticed (by me) blush dusted his cheeks momentarily before it disappeared from sight. The rest of the evening was quite uneventful; the majority of the time, the boys simply sat around while Yusuke and Kuwabara (who had arrived not to long before Kori) played a card game. After a while of sitting around being bored, I finally couldn't take the boredom any longer and told them that I was going upstairs to bed.

* * *

_Okay, so I have a few pictures for certain parts of the room and I'll post them on photobucket and I'll give you my username so anyone who wants to see the photos concerning this story is able to do so. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and please keep the reviews coming! :) They are the insparation for me to keep writing this story. Thank you and stay tuned for the next part of Tamer of the Dragon! :D_


	6. 5 Let the Training Begin

The next few days were quite boring for Kori and myself (more me than him); the only things the boys did to occupy the time was sit around or train (they included Kori once or twice when they trained); though they did leave on the third day we were there. When they had returned, I asked Yusuke where they had gone and he replied that Koenma had wanted to talk to them. The following day, I was feeling a little lazy and woke up at about 10:45; then I stayed in my room doing whatever I could find to occupy my time: whether it was organizing my closet or cleaning my already-clean room. I finally went downstairs around noon.

"Geez Kimiko, did you _just_ wake up?" Yusuke asked once he spotted me walking toward the kitchen.

"No, I've been up for a few hours; I was just too lazy as to actually come down the stairs," I replied, shrugging, as I walked into the kitchen and got a thing of juice to drink, as well as a sandwich to eat that Red had made for lunch.

"Well, I hope you got all the laziness out of you because it's time to start yours and Kori's training."

"What training?" I asked blanching and stopped eating my sandwich. I had been extremely bored one of the past few days and decided to watch the boys and Kori train; I was hoping my training would not be like that.

"Don't be stupid Onna; you wouldn't stand a chance in training such as ours," Hiei said while scoffing at me. He really irked me. He scoffed again. Correction: He _really_, really irked me. Yusuke laughed at my face (it was a mixture of anger/pure hatred and being scared shitless) and told me that my training wouldn't be nearly as difficult as the ones that the boys did. "Koenma told us you were going to be trained by a friend of his to help you start learning to bring out your powers. Kori will be learning as well, but he will be trained by someone else. Both of you will be gone for about a week or two, and once you, Kimiko, come back the real training will begin." Yusuke had said the latter part with a wicked grin; it scared me. A lot.

"What do you mean by _real training_?" My question went unheeded as Yusuke ushered Kori and me up the stairs to pack a week's worth of clothes. Kori and I finished shortly after and met back up downstairs. After Kori and I arrived, Yusuke called for a portal from Koenma and Kori was the first to leave. Then Yusuke said that it was my turn once another portal appeared after the one that Kori left through had closed.

I stepped through the portal and landed on my ass with a thump. "Ow…" I groaned as I stood. I looked around and noticed that I was in some sort of garden, or something to that likeness. It was beautiful—breathtaking even. There were flowers everywhere, and I heard the sound of running water nearby: possibly a stream. I kept looking around, taking in my surroundings; I was so absorbed with looking at said surroundings that I did not notice the person to my left smiling at me.

"Are you enjoying the view?" I quickly turned to my left and noticed the person; it was an elderly monk that was smiling at me.

"Yes, I'm sorry; I didn't notice you there." The monk told me that I was quite all right and requested that I follow him; I did so. He led me through the garden, and we stopped at a temple of some sorts.

"This will be your home for the next week or two, so please, make yourself at home." I smiled gratefully, and he led the way inside after returning the smile. He allowed me to unpack or rest a bit after he showed me the way to the room I would be staying in. After about ten minutes or so, I walked out of my room and wandered about until I found the monk again. He was at a traditional Japanese style table, and he poured me some tea when he saw that I had entered the room.

"So, you are an elemental demon, correct?" I confirmed that I was. "But you know not how to control, or even access, your powers, correct?" I blushed at how pathetic it made me sound, but confirmed what he had said to be true nevertheless. "Hm." He was lost in thought for a minute or two before he simply stated, "We have much work to do."

…

Kori stepped out of the portal and looked around to take in his surroundings: He was in a temple of some sorts. He sighed and glanced around; upon seeing no one around, he sat down and waited for someone to retrieve him. He did not wait long before a woman in a training robe similar to the one that Yusuke had worn while he trained once approached him.

"You are Kori, I take it?" When he nodded, she said, "Good, follow me." She had sounded annoyed when she spoke. She took him to his room. "I'll retrieve you in five minutes to take you to my master; he is the one to train you." She left with a sneer on her face. Kori's only thought as the woman's form retreated view was _'What a bitch…'_

The woman collected Kori a short time later and led him through many passages and finally came to a stop in front of a large door. "My master is in there and you **will** treat him with the utmost respect. Is that understood?" Before he could reply, she continued to speak, "Go; he's waiting for you." She pushed him inside the room, and he turned to glare at the now closed door once he had recovered. He heard a chuckle and turned to face the person.

"Please excuse Nazuna; she does not care much for men, especially men from the outside world." After a moment of silence, he asked Kori, "How much do you understand about your powers?"

"I know how to change into a demon form to actually tap into my powers, and I can use my powers for the most part."

"Good, good. Let me see your powers my boy." Kori did so and the man nodded in thought once Kori was back into his human form. "You still have a little you need to learn, but you have learned well. Who taught you to do these things?"

"My father sir."

…

"Alright Kimiko, seeing as how we have so much to do, we will start training tonight. Is that all right with you my dear?"

"Yes Sir, but I don't really have anything to wear for training; the most appropriate attire I possess with me is not very appropriate around…you." He started laughing.

"That is fine my dear. Wear whatever you are comfortable wearing tonight; it makes no never mind to me. Tomorrow, however, you will be given a special robe for training (or fighting) and it will be yours to keep. Tonight before you sleep, you will be sized so the seamstresses will be able to make the robe for you without you being present. Now, go and change into whatever you are most comfortable in, and we will begin after you have changed." I went and changed into a tank top and a pair of shorts. When I returned to where the monk was, he turned to me and said, "Let us begin."

He led me back into the garden and told me to sit on the boulder that was right off the trail. "While sitting on the boulder, I want you to ignore all your surroundings and concentrate solely on what is happening beneath you in the earth. Concentrate and you will be able to feel, see, and hear the plates moving."

I sighed and sat cross-legged on the boulder and closed my eyes. I took deep breaths as I blocked out the sounds of the leaves being blown by the wind; the running water via stream; the bees buzzing around collecting pollen to make their honey; and all other sounds similar in nature. I concentrated for a good ten minutes, and right as I was about to give up, I heard a sound that resembled two boulders being thrown at each other and colliding; I jumped at the sound.

"Good, now open your eyes." There was a smile in his voice as he spoke softly. When I obeyed and opened my eyes, I gasped at what I saw: I could see the plates under the earth's crust shifting and colliding into one another. "If you sit on the ground, you will be able to actually feel the plates shifting." I did so and gazed around in awe; it was all so surreal.

"Oh my gosh…This is amazing," I spoke quietly as I sat there and felt the plates move. He nodded while smiling and suggested for me to try and control this element, but he also gave me the option to wait and tackle another element instead; I chose the prior while a smile graced my lips as I stared at the ground, watching the plates move beneath me. He nodded in recognition and told me to stand. When I was situated on my feet, he continued his instructions.

"For this exercise, you will have to close your eyes; they will deceive you at this point in time and will confuse you." I nodded in understanding and shut my eyes and took a deep breath as he continued his explanation further. "Now concentrate on the plates again and hold your hands in front of you. Once you feel one of your hands moving with a particular plate, fist you hand and jerk your fist in an upward direction; make sure your fist is above your head at the end." After a good amount of time waiting and concentrating, I opened one of my eyes and peered at Monk Miatsu.

"Nothing is happening." He chuckled at my impatience and told me (with an all-knowing smile) that it takes time (as well as patience) to develop a relation with the elements to even start manipulating even the littlest amount of the elements. I sighed in despair—I knew that learning to master my powers was not going to be a walk in the park, so to speak, but I honestly thought that I would have developed a little more that I had…but then again it has not even been a day yet, so I should not be too hard on myself.

"We may continue this exercise and such tomorrow if you wish; I would like to have you advance to the element of air (or wind, whichever is correct in my books)." A small laugh escaped my lips at his statement as we walked to the meadow for the next element. On the trip to the meadow, we passed the stream that I had heard upon my arrival; the stream was further from my location than I had originally thought. "For this exercise, you will be standing instead of sitting as you previously were. Try to feel the wind's currents; feel the way it moves from place to place, as if in a dance of some sort. It is quite all right if you do not get the hang of it at first; not many elementals do."

I stood still for a while and felt how the wind moved, but it never really blew on or closely around me. So I did not get a good feel of the wind. I sighed and opened my eyes (for the second or third time this afternoon or evening) when my legs had started to ache (which normally takes about half an hour to about forty-five minutes), "I can't feel them; the wind seems to be avoiding me altogether."

Monk Miatsu thought about what I had just spoken carefully while I sat down for a short reprieve. "Maybe you are like her…" he spoke more to himself than to me. Then he suggested that I actually try and will the wind to allow myself to feel the currents instead of trying to feel the currents with nothing but pure concentration as I was previously doing. I stood again and started to imagine the wind currents coming around me and allowing me to become in-tune with said currents. As I had started imagining the currents' movements, I had started to feel the wind start to pick up a little around me. I opened my eyes and saw the thing that I was imagining: the visible currents circling around my body and the area around me. I smiled and gave a little laugh as I started imagining the currents to change direction ever so slightly and the currents obeyed; I was glad I was getting the hang of being a demon, even if it was forced on me.

"Good, Kimiko. Good. Shall we move to water? Or do you want to try controlling the wind? I warn you though, the Lady of the Wind does not take well to be contained," Monk Miatsu said with a small smile playing on his lips as he watched me gaze around me in wonder.

"Lady of the Wind?" I had asked after I replied that I wished to train with water instead of wind. The monk nodded.

"Yes, the She-Wind (as she is fondly called by the elementals) controls all things concerning wind: the air, weather, and skies. There are four 'Ladies': She-Water, She-Earth, She-Wind, and She-Fire. Each contains everything relating to their element: water is water, ice, and things that have water inside them; earth is everything on the ground, including the plants and animals; while fire is everything molten, gas, and (of course) fire itself. Koenma gave me strict orders not to teach you how to control magma. Not many elementals have survived while working with molten; in fact, your next teacher (as soon as Koenma gets a hold of her) is the sole survivor."

"Oh" was my only reply as we continued back to the stream.

…

"I hope Kimiko's doing better than us," Kuwabara muttered as the four Spirit Detectives were walking through a forest to complete another mission that recently cropped up during Kimiko's and Kori's absence. Yusuke agreed and added Kori into the sentence as well; Yusuke had oddly grown attached to the other male during his short stay with the Spirit Detectives. Kurama stated his agreement, while Hiei ignored his comrades' conversation opting to take up the role as look-out for any potential attack to the group.

During their hike through the forest, Kurama walked next to Hiei and started quietly chatting with him—though Kurama was doing all of the talking. Hiei just ignored the majority of the topics the fox was talking about: the onna, Kimiko. He had heard everything about the onna multiple times; so much so that he now knew her back story, favorite colors, favorite food (which was a little odd in Hiei's personal opinion), and every other insignificant little detail about the annoying onna. Hiei honestly wished that the fox would just shut up and let Hiei be in peace, but luck was not on his side when it came to these matters. Therefore, Hiei suffered in silence, until the detective announced that it was time to set up camp for the night. The buffoon asked the fox if there was anything to eat while Hiei jumped onto one of the branches of a tree nearby.

"Yes, I have a little something that I managed to pack. It's only beans, but it's better than nothing." The buffoon agreed whole-heartedly while grinning, drool already starting to form on the side of his mouth as Kurama began to prepare the beans in a small pot that the red-head had managed to bring along as well. As the beans finished, Kurama retrieved the four small bowls that he had packed, as well as the plastic spoons, and poured the beans into said bowls. "The beans are done." Kurama looked up at Hiei, who was reclining in a tree, "Hiei, do you want some?" When Kurama did not receive an answer, he sighed and placed the bowl down for Hiei to eat later. Kurama then started to worry about Hiei, but did not let it show. The detectives (save Hiei) fell asleep shortly after eating and cleaning up.

After the others had fallen asleep, Hiei jumped down and grabbed his bowl of beans and jumped back into the tree. As he stared out at the moon and stars, he was somehow reminded of the exasperating onna. He ran a hand through his hair in aggravation. This had been the third time his thoughts had drifted to the onna; it really irked him that he did not understand the reason as to why he was even thinking about her. The fox had been talking about her quite frequently in the past week or so…that had to be the reason behind the madness that was thinking of the blasted woman; he decided that had to be the reason as he fell asleep, his thoughts still focused on said female.

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_Okay, so I have finally updated and added a little hint of the couple that is bound to happen. So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Please, let me know via review. :)_


	7. 6 More Lessons

The stream was quite a distance away from the meadow, but we made it there quickly. "For this part, you will need to actually get into the water and sit down. Do you feel the currents moving past you in the stream?" I nodded, my teeth chattering slightly; the water was _freezing_. "Good, now relax and sway to the rhythm of the currents; become one with them. That is the key to awakening your powers." Slowly, I began to feel more at peace, and the water felt warmer. "You are doing well, very well. Now, I want you to try moving the water a little. Go with the flow and keep using fluid motions; water moves rhythmically and not forced like earth."

I thought about what I had to do and started moving my hands away and toward me in a rhythmic motion and small waves started to form in front of me. I grinned as I started to bring my hands up higher with every repetition of the movement causing larger waves to form. Monk Miatsu congratulated me, and I grinned in thanks. He then told me to try to make a tidal wave. I lowered my hands near the surface of the water then raised my hands upward in one quick movement; the water followed. Then I pushed to water away from me and the wall of water became a tidal wave as it zoomed down the stream. Monk Miatsu congratulated me again and praised me, saying that I was doing well for my first time manipulating the elements. I grinned at the praise (I did quite enjoy it) I was receiving from the monk. He looked up at the sky and declared that that was enough training for the day and told me to go ahead and get out of the stream. I stood and waded to the edge of the stream where I went to hoist myself out of the water, but something tugged me backwards and made me fall back into the water. The stream was surprisingly deep because I went underwater for a short time. I surfaced and shook off. Monk Miatsu chuckled as I attempted to exit the stream again, only to get tugged back away from the edge. "It seems She-water has grown fond of you."

"I noticed," I said dryly as I stood next to him dripping wet; I had finally managed to exit the stream. He simply chuckled again and placed the towel he had brought around my shoulders.

We walked back to the temple and a seamstress approached us when we entered. She walked up to us and bowed to the monk (who bowed back with a smile) then asked if I was "Miss Kimiko." I confirmed that I was who she thought by nodding my head. "Please follow me." She took me into a sewing room and stood me on a pedestal and many seamstresses started taking measurement after measurement of me. After a while of standing around, I grew tired. The ladies finished and allowed me to go to my room and sleep. I walked sluggishly into my room and collapsed on my bed; sleep over took me instantly.

The days that followed consisted of me trying to work with earth, wind, and water. Monk Miatsu had never mentioned training me with fire. When I had asked him about it, he told me the following: "I do not wish to train you in fire until you have learned to control water or earth better, so you could easily put out a fire if it ever got out of hand." I let the topic drop after that.

I had been training under Monk Miatsu for almost a week now, and today was when I was finally able to start working with fire. Monk Miatsu had me positioned near the stream because I had very good control of water, which I was happy about.

"Please stand near the edge of the stream, just in case." I nodded and did as I was told. "What I want you to do is work on your focus; fire takes a great deal of focus to use, let alone master. So what I want you to do is use the leaves on the ground next to you and concentrate on trying to burn one, but I do not want all of it to be burnt, only the inside." I looked at him confused and asked what it was exactly I was supposed to do. "You are to burn the leaf from the inside out, but save the outer edge of the leaf." I nodded in understanding, stating that I now understood what to do. A look of determination replaced the look of understanding that had previously occupied my features as I said, "Okay, here we go."

…

"So why exactly did you call us here Koenma?" Yusuke asked as the Spirit Detectives entered the young prince's office. Yusuke was too tired to bother with the meaningless nicknames; the detectives had recently finished three missions in the past week.

"Well, Kori is doing well in his training and is to be retrieved as of tomorrow afternoon. Also, I called in a favor of an old friend of yours, and you need to retrieve him as well a week from now; the following day is when Kimiko will be returning from her training. I want two of you to train her in hand to hand combat as well as weaponry; I have chosen Yusuke and Hiei to train her in said areas respectably. Is that understood? Also, Hiei, you are not to help Kimiko with trying to control fire; another elemental will be coming in about a month to do so. Understood?"

Hiei muttered, "Hn," but added, "Like I would want to," shortly after.

…

"Arg!" I said in frustration as the leaf that I was holding and trying to concentrate on burnt all the way yet again; that was the sixth leaf that I had burnt to a crisp. I sighed as the leaf turned to ash and joined the rest of the ash around my feet. "This is hopeless," I muttered as I sighed.

"That is quite all right Kimiko; you will get it in time. Fire is the hardest of all the elements to try to control; She-fire is very stubborn and untrusting. She does not want to give her gift to anyone who does not show they are worthy to wield her. She will learn to listen to and trust you as time continues," the monk said in a comforting tone while placing a hand on my slumped shoulders. "Do you wish to try again or move on to continuing with water, seeing as how we are already here?" I decided it best to take a break on fire and work with water, an element I was beginning to master. Maybe with a little luck, a break from fire would help me out and allow me to complete the leaf test.

After about a week more of training, I was starting to get the hang of working with fire; I even completed the leaf test. I was ubber excited that I was able to do that. The day I had finished the leaf test, Miatsu-sensei had me try my hand at forming a whip of fire, seeing as how it is the easiest weapon to form out of fire to begin with. The first day trying to create the whip, Miatsu-sensei gave me a tip about such weapon: "Concentrate on the hilt of the whip (it too is made of fire) so it does not burn you." I kept doing so (to begin with, I could not even form the hilt); now I was starting to be able to start forming the actual whip.

About two weeks after I had arrived, I was working on my whip and was almost there when I heard a loud voice call my name; because of that voice, I burnt my hand. "Ow!" I looked in front of me (shaking my hand to get the pain to go away) to see Miatsu-sensei shaking his head. Behind me was Yusuke grinning, as well as the rest of the team and Kori. "Yusuke, you jerk! I almost had it," I said with a glare and slightly pouting. (Hey, I can still be child-like at times can't I?) He apologized and gave a sheepish grin my way. I turned to Miatsu-sensei and asked if I could try again. He gave his permission while chuckling. I glanced back at the boys and told them to be quiet. They all nodded (well Hiei just stared at me blankly). I took a deep breath and held my hand out in front of me as if already holding the hilt of the whip and concentrated on my hand while I summoned the fiery hilt. I concentrated on the hilt while my other hand was brought out in a sweeping motion to form the actual whip. The whip was formed. I grinned as I stared at the weapon I had just created. Miatsu-sensei praised me as I snapped the whip over the stream (it really was quite fun to play with), the boys congratulated me as well.

"Let the whip go and focus on creating balls of fire." (Suddenly the song "Great Balls of Fire" started playing in my head; I cursed my brain that almost always turned anything into a song.) I stared at Miatsu-sensei in a confused way for a moment before he chuckled and explained more, "The way you will form fireballs will be similar to the way you create a ball of water, only you have to concentrate much more so your hands do not burn." I nodded and summoned the whip's hilt in my outstretched hand. Then, I started rolling my hands around the hilt, changing the shape into that of a sphere. I held it up to Miatsu-sensei who nodded. "Play with it a bit so you get the feel of it better. Once you have a true feel for the fireball, you will not have to create one using the hilt any longer, but from a snap of your fingers or even by thought as you progress even further." I tossed the fireball from one hand to the other and started tossing it in the air and catching it again. "You have done enough for now; keep practicing and I am sure you will be able to master all the elements, even the stubborn fire." I thanked him and he told me to collect my belongings and the new robe (he had allowed me to wear whatever I wanted this day seeing as how it was my last day, so I was currently wearing a tank top and sweatpants). After my belongings were collected, I met back up with the boys and Miatsu-sensei in the garden. I gave Monk Miatsu a hug and thanked him again.

"It is no trouble at all Kimiko; my only wish is that you will stop by again sometime." I smiled and promised that I would. I then ran to the boys who greeted me warmly with hugs (though Hiei just stood there looking bored as ever while this all happened, not that I was paying him any attention…).

We all departed while chatting happily; I had come to accept what I was and embraced it, so there was no reason to be bitchy about where I was anymore.

"So Koenma got an old friend of ours to train you in the art of mastering wind; he's great, and I'm sure you'll love him," Yusuke said as we walked into Koenma's office.

"Thank you Yusuke for the introduction of our guest; Kimiko, this is one of your new trainers: Jin, the Wind Master."

"Hello, you're a cutie, aren't cha? Well I'm gonna be your teacher and when I'm done with ya, woo wee, no one will be able to compete with you in the area of wind…well maybe myself, but that's it!" he exclaimed grinning, his ears twitching.

I looked at Yusuke who was laughing and said, "The only thing I got out of that was that he's Irish, which is awesome; but that doesn't help much when it comes to him being my teacher and me not being able to understand him." Yusuke laughed harder and told me what Jin had said. I blushed when Yusuke had told me that Jin said I was a "cutie." I cleared my throat (Jin still ginning, mirth clear in his eyes) and spoke, "Uh, thanks Jin…I think." Jin laughed at me. We went back to the house after Koenma told me that Yusuke and Hiei would also be training me, and Jin floated next to me as we walked (I walked) to the couch. "So when do we start training?" I was expecting tomorrow at the earliest.

"Today if you want."

"I think I'll have to pass on that; I'm tired from the training I just finished and my hands hurt because of Yusuke's big mouth." I gave a sideways glance to Yusuke who laughed sheepishly causing Jin to laugh as well. Jin told me our training would begin in the morning and Kurama (I had decided to call him by his name. During my stay I had realized I really was not as into him as I had originally thought) asked if I wanted him to check my hands. "Sure, thanks Kurama." He sent a glance my way then checked my hands.

"Looks like they are just minor burns; some ointment should take care of the problem by tomorrow or the next day." I thanked the red head as he tended to my hands, wrapping them after applying the ointment. He then started to cook dinner. I walked upstairs to change from the outfit I was currently wearing into a more comfortable (around guys) outfit: a tee and jeans. I walked back down the stairs and collapsed between Yusuke and the floating Jin onto the couch. Kurama was in the kitchen cooking (as previously stated) while Kori was next to Yusuke on the couch; both were watching the newly acquired television and cable. Kuwabara was in the seat next to the couch also watching the television. Then Hiei was sitting on the window seat staring out the window (like usual). Jin and I talked a bit more, getting to know each other a bit better.

Within the hour, Kurama had finished the food and we all gathered and ate. Yusuke and Kuwabara got into an eating contest. Yusuke won. After dinner, we all watched some TV; all-in-all, it was a fairly boring night, though Jin did make it a little more lively and entertaining.

The following morning, I was curled up in ball having a peaceful dream when a gust of wind tossed my covers off of me.

"Time to get up and start yer training," Jin's voice said as I rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. His voice was not welcomed by me at the moment—I was not a morning person in the slightest. "Come on lazy bones! Time to get up, up, up!"

I groaned out, "Go away," as I rolled over to face him, a glare on my face. I looked out the window and my eyes widened incredulously as I noticed that it was not even light out yet; in fact, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. "Are you serious? The sun isn't even up yet, and you are expecting me to get up now? I don't think so…" I was about to reach for my blankets when another gust of wind pushed me up and out of my bed. I screamed as I fell; Jin caught me with more wind. I was starting to get cold; I _was_ only wearing a tank top and some booty shorts.

"Now go get ready so I can teach ya to control wind like me." I muttered incoherent expletives as I walked sluggishly into my bathroom; the boys popped their heads in my doorway to see what the commotion was about.

I dressed in my robe that Monk Miatsu had given to me. I never explained what my robe looked like, did I? Well, my robe was more like a short kimono with a pair of leggings underneath. The kimono was loose (easy to move in), yet still tight (it complimented all my curves). It was also black in color. There were red Sakura blossoms designed all around my robe. The sleeves were long and bell-like; there were hidden pockets inside the sleeves, as well as where the obi was in the front. Under the kimono were my tight black leggings. They were made of tough material, but were very comfortable and expandable. My shoes were black, flat fighting shoes. When I was ready, I walked out to the training rink where Jin was waiting for me.

"Well, don't you look nice? Well, time to start." A gush of wind blew around us, its center was Jin, and Jin flew up into the air and disappeared from sight. I idly wondered how that was going to help me learn how to control the wind, though it was quite cool. He appeared again a short time later grinning. "All right, **now** it's time to start." He then instructed me to feel relaxed and carefree. When I asked Jin why, he replied that those were the feelings that described the wind. I complied and started to try to relax, and as I did so, I became more carefree. The wind started moving around me and I decided I would try something and willed the wind to move under me and hoist me up off the ground. I felt my feet leave the ground as Jin exclaimed,

"By the saints*, I think you've got it!" I opened my eyes and saw that I was about a foot off the ground and shouted for joy. By doing so, I flew up a several yards more into the air. I slowly came back down closer to the ground a little shaky. Just because I was working with wind did not mean I was not scared of heights.

"Well, look at that: Kimiko's learned to control wind." I looked to where the voice came from and saw Yusuke standing next to Hiei with his arms crossed and a ginning smirk on his face. A bashful smile crossed my face as I turned back to Jin who was grinning, his ears twitching again.

"Well, it looks like yer gonna be a good student; a fast learner too." He grinned some more as Yusuke jumped up and walked up to Jin (who was still floating).

"Alright Jin, it's time for Hiei and me to take over." Jin nodded and leapt down from the rink, taking a seat on the bench next to the rink. "Okay Kimiko, you ready to start?" I glanced uneasily between Yusuke and Hiei. "Don't worry, I'll train you in hand to hand combat and then Hiei will train you in weaponry."

"Could we possibly make it to where you train me one day and Hiei train me the next? I would be _way_ too tired otherwise." Yusuke thought about it then turned to Hiei and asked if it would be okay with him. We received a "Hn" as he walked back inside.

"I guess that means that it's okay with him." Yusuke shrugged and started my training.

'_This is going to be a long two days…'

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_*Thank you Pyrosnightmare for the information so I could correct my mistake. :) _

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and just because I'm so nice, I'll give you a preview to the next chapter… and a little snippet of information: *teme=bastard_

_...  
_

I flew backward as I tried to dodge Hiei's sword. My back collided with the rink and I skid a few feet. Needless to say, my back was starting to get pretty sore. I struggled to stand as Hiei spoke.

"Get up Onna. That was nothing compared to what could happen to you." I stabbed my sword in the rink so I could stand, opting to use my sword as a walking stick. I glared at the bastard as he stood in front of me looking bored.

"Maybe I could get up if you weren't such a fucking jackass and went easy on me to begin with like any sane instructor would do," I snapped at the crimson eyed teme* who was _really_ starting to piss me off. The wind started picking up speed as my anger rose. He scoffed at me and charged me once again. I growled in aggravation and positioned my sword in front of me defensively right as Hiei appeared in front of me, his sword clashing with mine. _'You annoying pain in the ass…'_

"I could say the same about you Onna," Hiei muttered glaring at me.


	8. 7 What a Surprise

The following day I trained with Jin and Hiei. Hiei was a cold-hearted bastard. He did not give me a single break (nor any slack), even when I asked, told, and yelled for him to do so. None of it worked.

I flew backward as I tried to dodge Hiei's sword. My back collided with the rink and I skid a few feet. Needless to say, my back was starting to get pretty sore by now. I struggled to stand as Hiei spoke.

"Get up Onna. That was nothing compared to what could happen to you." I stabbed my sword in the rink so I could stand, opting to use my sword as a walking stick. I glared at the bastard as he stood in front of me looking bored.

"Maybe I could get up if you weren't such a fucking jackass and went easy on me to begin with like any sane instructor would," I snapped at the crimson eyed teme* who was _really_ starting to piss me off. The wind started picking up speed as my anger rose. He scoffed at me and charged me once again. I growled in aggravation and positioned my sword in front of me defensively right as Hiei appeared in front of me, his sword clashing with mine. _'You annoying pain in the ass…'_

"I could say the same about you Onna," Hiei muttered glaring at me. I returned the glare and shoved him back away from me with a grunt.

"Okay Hiei, I think it's time to let her take a break for the day," Kurama said, effectively saving me. _'Thank Kami-sama for that boy…'_ Hiei scoffed again and walked away. As he jumped off the rink, I collapsed onto the ground; the boys rushed up to check on me.

…

The onna had collapsed onto the ground, due to lack of energy more likely than not, and everyone rushed to check on her. Hiei kept walking, completely uninterested in what was happening with the annoying onna. She seemed to easily infuriate Hiei, which worried the fire youkai slightly (though he never let it show). No one ever had this sort of effect on him. The oaf did not count; he was just a moron. Hiei walked into his room and, after catching a whiff of his scent, decided to take a shower. Hiei walked into his plain bathroom (where the only colors present were black and white) and stripped, opting to take a warm shower to calm down his body that was still on alert from training the onna. It was the first day of training, and she had shown a small amount of promise when dealing with the art of sword-fighting. She already possessed previous knowledge about swords (however little in amount it was), so Hiei thankfully did not have to teach her how to withdrawal the sword from its sheath properly or the position on the body the sword and sheath were when they were not in use. But those were the only things Hiei did not have to teach the ignorant onna. Fighting stance, defensive stance, and how to actually fight with the sword were a few of the lessons Hiei had taught the onna that day. His mind was exhausted by simply thinking about how much he had taught that day.

As the water poured over his stressed body, Hiei's mind wandered to the onna again. Why did she seem to anger him so easily? What was it about her that drove him crazy? Unfortunately, Hiei had no answers for those questions, which only served to raise his anger level a notch higher. Hiei had to stop thinking about that woman; the more he thought about her, the more crazed he became.

After his shower, Hiei changed and went downstairs with the rest of the people that resided in the house. When Hiei's foot landed on the last step, everyone turned to glare at the fire demon, even the fox looked angry at him. Hiei had to wonder what had gotten them all so upset, though he spoke nothing; Hiei had decided to let someone else start the conversation.

Finally, the onna's brother spoke up when no one else did. "You heartless bastard. It was her first day! You should have gone easy on her, but no, you decided to attack her as if you were fighting against me or one of the other guys. She is not at our level, that's why she needs training." Kori would have continued his rant but a small hand from the couch (that all the boys were gathered around) gently tugged on Kori's pants, effectively stopping the boy before he could continue his tirade. His face softened as he looked back at the person on the couch (Hiei knew it was the onna) and spoke softly, "What is it Sis?"

What she said caught Hiei by surprise (as well as all the others in the room). "Please Onii-san, stop; he was just training me the only way he knew how. I'm weak, that's why I couldn't handle it, and that's why I need the training. I'll get used to it eventually, so just relax." Hiei was sure she offered her brother a smile because a reluctant smile appeared on Kori's face a short time later, and he reluctantly agreed. But not before Kori sent Hiei a glance that clearly stated: "You're lucky." Then everyone went back to normal, leaving Hiei to wonder why the onna defended him.

…

I sighed in relief as Kori sat down and everyone went back to normal: Jin watching TV with Kori; Yusuke and Kuwabara playing a card game; and Kurama cooking. Hiei was sitting on the window sill staring at me for a second before he turned away. I shrugged it off as unusual and joined Jin and Kori in the watching of TV until dinner was completed.

The following day I woke up to the feeling every female hates: I had started my period. I sighed in annoyance and quickly got up and locked my door in case Jin decided he wanted to give me another early morning wake-up call. I showered and got ready for the day and decided to wear a bit of perfume to cover up any scent of my period seeing as how over half of the people I live with have a really good sense of smell.

My training with Jin went well; I was starting to get a better understanding of how to control the wind. My training with Yusuke went well too; I had actually managed to land a punch on Yusuke. Afterward, he had told me he was just going easy on me, but I doubted it a little. Hiei had started training me in speed as well as weaponry, though I was not quite sure it the speed training was required or not.

That night I was unusually friendly with Jin, Kurama, and even Hiei! I was getting a lot closer to them than I normally would and I even started playing with Kurama's hair a bit. It really made me wonder what was going on with me. I was sure the boys were thinking the same thing.

The following day I got ready and said screw the perfume. **Big** mistake.

In the beginning of Jin's class, everything was fine. Then near the end I started using the wind around me to attack Jin. Turned out, Jin was the one who ended up attacking me. When I went to attack him with a gust of wind, he dodged but his nostrils flaired as he took in a breath. He was pinning me down in the next second, his eyes clouded over with lust. He leaned down and was about to kiss me when Hiei cleared his throat near the side of the rink, his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face. The lust that had clouded Jin's eyes left instantly and was replaced first by surprise, then by regret. Jin quickly got off of me, and I bolted inside the house and up into my room, passing Hiei in the process. I decided to forgo Hiei's training and locked myself in my room.

…

As Kimiko rushed passed the fire youkai, Hiei caught a whiff of something that made him tense: The onna was in heat, and knowing her lack of demonology, she would not realize it. Hiei took a step forward as if to follow Kimiko but was blown back a few feet by a rush of wind. Hiei looked back at Jin.

"I wouldn't do that if I were ya; no need to have her scared of two of us. I'm sure she's already scared of me." Jin spoke the latter part sadly. Hiei nodded in understanding as the two walked in the house together.

"What just happened? Kimiko ran through here as if her life depended on it." Kurama looked between the two demons in front of him then in the direction Kimiko had ran off—her room.

Jin looked down in shame and shifted his weight from one foot to the other; he obviously was not going to speak, so Hiei did. The three words he said spoke volumes to the red headed fox. "She's in heat."

"Oh dear," were the only words Kurama uttered.

"So tell me again why _**I **_am the one who has to tell her?" Yusuke asked as the boys all gathered around the living room after Hiei and Jin explained what was wrong with Kimiko, mainly Jin.

"Because baka," Hiei said rolling his crimson eyes, "You are the only one who is not going to be affected by her heat." Hiei was almost thankful that she was in heat; it explained her behavior the previous night and why she was so…clingy to the males that were demons, and why she played with the fox's hair.

"What about Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked gesturing to said male. "I'm half demon; I could still be affected by it too." Yusuke was trying anything and everything to get out of having to tell Kimiko that she was not on her period but was, in fact, in heat.

Kori spoke up, "Yusuke, she most certainly will not want to hear it from Kuwabara, sorry Kuwabara. And besides, he doesn't understand what's going on anyway." His face fell in disappointment and Kuwabara said that he would if someone would just explain what the heck Kimiko being in heat meant. "I would do it, but even _I_ am affected by it. You being a half demon will help you out immensely. It would only affect you half as bad, but because you don't use your demon blood all that much, it will only affect you about a fourth the amount it would a full blood; I'm affected three-fourths as much and it's driving me insane. The reason I am affected three-fourths is because, unlike Jin, Kurama, and Hiei, I can't access my powers in my human form. You, Yusuke, will have more control than all of the rest of us combined (sorry Kuwabara you don't count in this again). You _have_ to do it." Kuwabara started grumbling with his arms crossed as he sat there while the rest of the guys tried to talk Yusuke into telling Kimiko. Yusuke reluctantly agreed some time later and walked up to Kimiko's room.

…

I shook as I sat cuddled up in my bed. I had locked all entrances to me room: windows and doors; even my bathroom's and closet's doors were blocked. I did not understand what was happening to me. When Jin was leaning down to kiss me, I had wanted to kiss him back…and much more. It did not make sense to me; I did not even care for Jin that way! Kurama I could understand, seeing as how I had recently had a crush on the guy, but Jin? A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts.

"Kimiko? Can I come in? I need to—er—explain a few things to you." It was Yusuke. I could trust him, right?

I slowly made my way to the door and barely opened it. "Explain what?" I was being unusually cautious…but could you blame me after what had just happened to me?

"The reason behind all the strange things that has been happening recently." He offered a smile. I supposed it was meant to be a comforting smile, but it turned out to be a nervous smile instead. I let him inside and quickly shut the door behind him.

"Explain."

Yusuke began to explain to me about what was happening to me and my body. It almost seemed as if I was getting "The Birds and the Bees" lecture from my father again…that was uncomfortable. (My mother had made it a lot better; she stopped my father before he got too far, allowing him to leave and said that she would take it from there. He and I were both relieved at her interference.) Yusuke began to explain that I was not on my period after all, but was in heat—the demon's version of a period. He explained it in different terms when I raised an eyebrow up at him. "Well…um…have you ever had a female pet such as a dog or a cat?" I nodded; my family used to have about two dogs and a cat at one time—all female. "Well, what you are going through now is similar to that." My eyebrows flew up in surprise. I had not expected this to happen…though that did explain the way I acted toward Kurama, Jin, and Hiei the previous night, and why I had wanted to kiss Jin, and a lot more, earlier this morning.

After a moment of silence, my logical mind left me momentarily. "I'm what?"

…

"I'm what?"

"Looks like Yusuke was able to tell her," Kori said nonchalantly as he turned back to the TV.

"You're not worried about her?" Kori turned toward the speaker: Kurama. All the other males were looking at Kori for his answer as well, even Hiei (which surprised Kori).

"Not in the slightest. She's strong-willed; she'll overcome this and not let it hold her down. She'll be fine." Kori turned back toward the TV and got into a more comfortable position. The discussion was over. Kurama glanced unsteadily between Kori and upstairs. In the end, the fox decided to go with the bother's judgment and not worry about Kimiko. The others went back to what they were previously doing as well.

…

I stared at Yusuke disbelievingly, my logical mind had yet to return. "So what you are trying to tell me is that right now, I'm like the female dog that is in heat, and all she wants is to be fucked?"

Yusuke cleared his throat uneasily. "Not so bluntly, but yeah…pretty much." He trailed off and looked away. I sighed and leaned back against my pillows. _'This can't be happening to me…all of this has to be a horrible nightmare.'_ My logical mind had started to return as I realized that, unfortunately, I knew that it was not a dream or nightmare and that this was, in fact, real.

"Do you know how long it will last?"

Yusuke suddenly looked _highly_ uncomfortable. "I don't know, but if I were to take a guess, then I would say the same amount of time you are on your period. But that's just my guess." I nodded and told him that he could leave, seeing as how he was so uncomfortable. He quickly stood and made his way to the door; when he reached the door, he turned and asked, "Hey, out of curiosity, do you hate or fear anyone downstairs…like Jin for example?" I shook my head, indicating that I did not. "Good, 'cause Jin was worrying about that." He gave me a smile which I returned half-heartedly. "You sure you're gonna be all right?" I told him I was and he left for downstairs again. A minute or two passed while I sat and thought about what I was going to do before I decided I would try and go downstairs to have some bit of normality in my life. Before I left, I showered and applied some perfume, seeing as how it worked so well the first time. I also tried to keep the wind that was around me calm and close to me. Then I went for the stairs.

…

"So how did it go?" Kori asked once Yusuke reappeared from upstairs.

"Well, she doesn't hate anyone, nor is she scared of anyone, Jin, and I think she is coming to grips with everything right now." Yusuke plopped down onto the couch with a sigh. Yusuke looked at Kori and said, "That was unbelievably uncomfortable. Do **not** make me do anything like that again. Also, you could have warned me about how blunt Kimiko is. That was enough to make me want to crawl into a hole for a day or two so I can get all of that out of my mind…"

Jin, Kuwabara, Kori, and Kurama (though he had tried not to) laughed at their miserable friend. Yusuke started ranting and raving, yelling at them to stop laughing at him or there would be "some pain dished out!" as Yusuke had termed it. The group stopped laughing a short time later, though they were still laughing on the inside. A door opened upstairs; a second or two later, all the male demons glanced up to the top of the stairs where Kimiko stood nervously surveying everyone in the room.

…

I stood at the top of the stairs watching everyone in the room. All the guys (minus Yusuke and Kuwabara) looked at me as I had approached the top step. I decided I would try my luck and went down a few steps, being sure to watch the boys as I went. They seemed fine for the most part, though I could tell they were struggling to maintain control. I decided to spare them and went straight to the kitchen to make myself some food. Once that task was completed, I made my way back toward the stairs. Someone's voice stopped me from climbing the stairs, however.

"Hey Kimiko, why are you going back upstairs? We haven't really seen you all day." I looked to see Kuwabara looking at me questioningly.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay down here is all." I tried to make my escape, but Kuwabara kept talking.

"Why not? We don't have cooties or anything." He started snickering. I rolled my eyes at his childish antics, but decided to play along, if only for a little bit.

"Sure you do Kuwabara. All males have cooties; you just can't see them until you have…a little too much fun." The smirk that was residing on my lips was enough for Yusuke to get what I was hinting at, and he started laughing. He even congratulated me through his laughter. I thanked him and made my way up the stairs, leaving Kuwabara confused for quite some time before Yusuke eventually had to explain it. I heard his shouted disapproval from my room; I snickered to myself. Maybe being in heat would not be all bad.

* * *

_Okay, so there were some funny parts in this chapter. Next chapter will be even better, or worse...depends on your view. *evil grin* Either way, you should enjoy it. I'm not sure, but I think I am starting to be able to get into Hiei's mind (scary thought... Oo); you all should let me know what you think. :D Unfortunately, I can't give a preview; if I did, it might ruin the fun. So you will just have to wait until next time. I was nice though, and I did post this one before I normally would, so you all can enjoy this part until the next one comes out in a short while from now. Please keep the reviews coming: they help me keep wanting to write this story! :) Thanks so much!_


	9. 8 Open Mouth, Insert Foot

After I had my little venture downstairs, I had decided to spare the boys and stay in my room until my heat was over or at least lessened by a drastic amount like my period normally did. The only time I went downstairs was for food; and I only did that when the boys were asleep or training. My eating habits were going down the tubes.

I was headed downstairs to fix myself breakfast and lunch for the day. This would be day four of my heat; my period normally lasted six days (I know, it sucks to be me). I was just hoping that my heat would be shorter, even if it was by one day. I reached the bottom step and glanced around: The living room was turning into a pig's sty. I made a mental note to come back down here and clean the room when the boys were out training. Speaking of training, I was starting to fall behind majorly in said area. I could not very well ask Jin to train me some more at the moment, seeing as how he tried to attack me last time. Yusuke I might be able to train with, though I had no idea as to when I could actually train with him. Hiei I was sure was out of the question (I began to cook and prepare my food whilst my mind continued to wander.) Although I would have never told him this to his face, I enjoyed training with Hiei. I had always wanted to learn how to use a sword (and fighting fans, though I doubted Hiei would know how to use those) but my parents had always forbade me from doing so. Now that I think about it, it was probably for the best lest I would have awakened my powers any earlier. And I was sure that I would have. I finished my food and crammed it into two lunch boxes (for easy carrying) and grabbed a thermos of milk and a can of soda. I made my way silently toward the stairs, all the while thinking about the training that I wanted to catch up on but knowing that I could not. I glanced about the living room once more and jumped at the sight of a figure standing in the room. By the small sliver of moonlight that was shining through the crack in the curtains, I took notice of black hair.

Okay, well that narrowed the search down my three. The figure took a single step forward, and crimson eyes pierced through the night in my direction. Okay, the person was officially a ticked off Hiei; I knew this by the glare that his eyes directed toward my vicinity. "What the hell are you doing Onna?" His tone was that of annoyance and being tired. I idly thought it was cute, but quickly pushed that thought from my mind. I continued to walk up the stairs, saying that I was just retrieving some food so I would not have to do so when the boys were awake. Hiei left me alone after my answer.

…

Hiei watched the onna walk up the stairs, his eyes focused on her ass as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she climbed. Hiei shook his head. It was because of her heat that he was staring at her ass. Hiei would normally never do something so…piggish; it was too beneath him. But apparently it was not so now. Hiei shook his head again as he walked up the stairs as well. The onna's door shut quietly as he reached the middle on the stairway. Hiei glanced at the onna's door before opening his own and slipping inside. He really wished her heat would be over soon.

…

Later that day, I watched the boys walk outside to train and stood to go downstairs to clean. I grabbed my iPod and basically ran down the stairs; I was excited that I could finally do something other than sit around in my room all day and doodle or do nothing. Even doodling got boring after a while. I started picking up the trash and stacking the magazines on the coffee table. I got so into cleaning and my music that I became oblivious to the world around me; I even started dancing a bit as I cleaned. I was so absorbed into my own little world that I did not notice a few males come inside from training. I turned around to take care of something behind me and froze upon the sight of Hiei, Jin, and Yusuke standing there looking at me as if I possessed multiple heads. I straightened quickly and took out one of my ear buds. "I didn't hear you guys come in," I said nervously as I glanced from one boy to another.

"We noticed," Yusuke said amusement clear in his voice. He glanced around at the living room and whistled. "Damn, what gave you the motivation to do this?" The living room was nearly spotless and I was getting a little hot because of such rigorous cleaning.

I shrugged, still glancing warily between Hiei and Jin (who were starting to look at me like I was some slice of fine meat). "It gave me something to do."

"Why don't you come and train with us outside?" That snapped Hiei and Jin out of their stupor as they clearly made their opinions known.

"Are you insane Urumeshi? She wouldn't stand a chance out there. She's lucky we're not doing anything right now, in fact. Taking her out there is suicide!"

"I am going to have to agree with him, Detective. That would be an idiotic move, even for you."

"Thanks Hiei, I see you show your feelings for me openly. But that was simply to get you two to snap out of that ridiculous trance you two were in and get you to leave so I could talk to Kimiko alone, so she wouldn't feel so endangered. Now go back outside." Hiei glared at Yusuke and 'Hn'ed while walking off. Jin soon followed, giving me a sad glance before he left. I felt sorry for the guy. He still blamed himself for what happened the second day of my heat. I did not blame him, so neither should he.

I looked at Yusuke once the two boys had gone. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"How are ya holdin' up?"

"I've been better. The main thing that is bothering me is that I'm more bored than anything. I have nothing to do. I can't train because no one is able to train me. Well you can, but I don't have the slightest idea as to _when_ you could actually train me." I was about to continue on my spiel when Yusuke interrupted me with laughter.

"Okay, I get it: You're bored and you want to train." He laughed a little more; a smile found its way onto my lips. His laugh was just so contagious. "You know you can train by yourself, right?"

"You can?" Yusuke shook his head with wonder.

"You have so much to learn…"

"Before you teach me, could you teach someone else to stop blaming himself?"

"You mean Jin?" I nodded.

"He blames himself still for what happened the second day of my heat. I don't blame him; it was nature…or something. The point is, I don't blame him and I wish he would stop beating himself up over it. I can't even look at the guy before a look of guilt crosses his face. It's getting kinda annoying actually." Yusuke chuckled and promised he would talk to Jin about such matters, which lightened my mood up quite a bit.

Yusuke then led me outside. I stopped right inside the doorway. "I'm not going out there. You heard Hiei and Jin; they'll kill me…or worse."

"Relax; nothing's gonna happen to ya. Just stay close to me and I'll lead you to somewhere where no one will bother you while you train." I agreed reluctantly, and stuck very close to Yusuke as we exited the house. "Hey guys, I'll be back; gonna take Kimiko somewhere to train. Be back in a jiff."

"Did you _have_ to say that?" I whispered sharply as all the boys turned to watch Yusuke and I leave the area and head into the woods behind the house.

"Relax, will ya?" We continued the rest of the way in silence. We finally came to a stop in a clearing in the middle of the woods. Yusuke chuckled as I surveyed the area around me: It was a perfect area to train in with many trees surrounding the area and a plentiful area to race around in and try learning to control the elements. All the elements were there but water. "So, what do you think?"

"It's amazing."

Yusuke chuckled at my awe. "Well, I'll allow you to train and head back to the guys."

"How would I train on my own per say?" Yusuke chuckled again and explained to me how I could train alone. "Oh, thanks." I started stretching so I could start to train as Yusuke left. I decided that I would train with wind while I was alone, possibly work in earth while I was at it. I started relaxing and a carefree feeling flooded over me. I took a deep, calming breath (my eyes closing) as I began to focus on molding the wind around and under me. I cracked my eyes open and glanced around. I was floating a foot or so above the ground. I sighed and decided to push myself up further into the air. I then started to move the air around me and had the trees being blown around me so they started bending under the force that the wind was creating. _'This is still so amazing…'_

I continued training on my own for quite some time. I finally decided it was best for me to stop because I could barely see in front of me because it was that dark out. I walked back and into the house. As I walked through the house, I noticed that the boys were just sitting down for dinner. I stopped in the door way and stared at the empty place setting at the table. Kurama turned back to look at me when he notice Yusuke and Kuwabara staring in my direction. "Oh good Kimiko, you're here. Are you going to join us for dinner?"

I stared at them in shock. I honestly had not been expecting this to happen. Kurama repeated his question as I still continued to stare that the group. I finally snapped out of my stupor that I was in and agreed to stay as soon as I took a quick shower. Kurama nodded in understanding, though it was a stiff sort of nod. I dashed up to my room to take care of said thing and quickly returned about ten minutes later.

"That was quick." I smiled as I took a seat between Yusuke and Kuwabara (as that was safer than my original seat that was between Hiei and Kurama and across from Yusuke) and began piling food onto my plate to begin eating. All the boys looked slightly on edge during dinner; I knew it was because of my heat, but I was highly thankful that I was able to dine with the boys that night. While I ate, I glanced around the table and took in all of the boys' expressions: Yusuke was eating his dinner free of worries for the most part; Kuwabara was completely oblivious to everything around him as he shoveled his food into his mouth; Kurama was glancing at me occasionally, offering a tense smile whenever he caught me looking at him; Jin avoided looking at me the majority of the time (he was currently occupying my usual seat); and Hiei looked bored and annoyed, like usual. I found it odd that Hiei did not look affected in the slightest by my heat. I finished my meal, washed my plate, and left quickly, thanking Kurama for the meal as I left.

I walked up to my room, my thoughts clouded with why Hiei was not affected by my heat. Ever since I had started my heat, Hiei had not acted any different. I found it highly odd. I made a mental note to ask Kurama or someone else about how a male could not be affected by a female's heat. My guess would be that the male would not be interested in females to begin with. In other words: I thought that the male would have to be gay. With that guess made, my mind took a look at the whole "heat" situation through a new perspective. Hiei's being gay would explain why he was not interested in me in the slightest while he seemed to spend the majority of his time with either Kurama or alone. It also explained why he was not affected by my heat. I gasped at the realization; Hiei was _definitely_ gay.

The rest of my time I was in heat, I was going over the facts that had led me to the conclusion that Hiei was gay; I was preparing a defense for when I talked to Kurama about the matter of a male being able to withstand a female's heat. I was sure that Kurama would defend his friend and assure me that the fire youkai was not gay. My heat ended two days after I had eaten with the boys; in other words: my heat ended on the sixth day, like my period did. Damn… However, now that my heat had ended, I was prepared to confront Kurama about the "male resisting female's heat" matter. I did so while he prepared lunch and everyone else was outside training. They had allowed me an extra day to "clean away all remaining scent of my heat" as Yusuke relayed to me what one of the guys had said; I had a feeling it was Hiei by how rude it sounded.

"So Kurama." He glanced up at me, indicating that he was listening and for me to continue. "Is there any way for a male demon to _not_ be affected by a female demon's heat?"

Kurama stopped what he had been doing to look me directly in the eye. He was confused. "What do you mean by that, and why do you ask?"

"Well, while I was in heat, I noticed one of you guys was not affected by my heat. So I was wondering if there was a way for a guy to not be affected." He opened his mouth to speak but I added, "Without the option of not being a demon. The guy that I noticed was a demon."

"Are you asking about Hiei?"

"Yes." I decided not to beat around the bush. Kurama looked at me curiously before he went back to fixing our food.

"Let me assure you Kimiko, there is no way that a male demon would not be affected by a female's heat."

"Even if the male was gay?" Kurama choked on air.

"Where did you get that from?" I shrugged and replied nonchalantly that I had guessed. "Well, it's not true."

"How do you know that? Is there someone here that is gay?" Kurama looked a little uneasy, though he reassured me that there was not a soul in the house that was gay. I thought it over before replying, "Then how do you explain his lack of interest in me? I mean, come on, _you_ were interested; as were Kuwabara and Jin (if only a little). Yusuke I give the exception to; I know for a fact that if he showed any interest in another woman other than Keiko, she would whip his ass in a heartbeat." Kurama blushed slightly at the fact that I had called him out on his interest, but the blush was quickly replaced with a chuckle and nod upon hearing about Keiko's actions.

"Let me assure you, Hiei is not gay and he was affected by your heat."

"Really? It didn't seem that way to me."

"He is really good at hiding his emotions, even if something such as a female's heat is driving him crazy."

"I just find it odd that he is not interested in me in the slightest, even when everyone else was. And I'm not saying that because I am happy that boys are interested in me; in all reality, it slightly annoys me."

"Hiei is not interested in anyone. He shows no favoritisms (of either sex) because he basically hates everyone the same. His lack of interest is not only in you, but in everyone."

"So you're telling me that if an _extremely_ sexy woman walked in here and started flirting or showing interest in him, he wouldn't care or even give her the time of day?" When Kurama nodded, I laughed. He looked at me oddly before I stated, "That didn't exactly help your convincing me that he is not gay."

"Who's not gay?" I glance over to see all of the guys coming back inside, Hiei included. I wondered if I would get my head copped off if I spoke who we were talking about. I decided to test it out. If anything, I would cower behind Kurama; hopefully he would still protect me. Hiei gave me an odd glance as the boys continued to stand there, waiting for my answer.

"Hiei." I heard Kurama sigh and mutter, "Oh no…" I glanced over to look at the red haired demon, but was quickly shoved against the nearest wall, crimson eyes glaring fiery daggers at me.

"I am _**not**_ gay Onna." His words were venomous as his eyes continued to pierce through my being. That was when the laughter started. Hiei stopped glaring at me to look behind him. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kori were all laughing (Jin was looking at all of us confused). "I suggest you stop laughing, or you will find yourselves dead."

"Oh come on Hiei; it's humorous! We know you're not gay, though now that you bring it up Kimiko it does make a lot of sense…" Yusuke started laughing again, shortly followed by Kori and Kuwabara. I started blanching. Was Hiei going to kill us? It seemed possible if those three did not stop laughing within the next few seconds. And judging by how they were turning red from lack of air they were laughing so hard, it was doubtful.

"Why you…" Hiei started forward as if to attack the three boys (effectively letting me go in the process) but Kurama stood in front of Hiei and placed a hand in the junction of his shoulder and chest. Hiei stopped advancing, but the glare was clearly not going anywhere anytime soon.

"Kurama, you are not helping him right now," I muttered quietly as the three looked at the two demons and started laughing again. Both boys turned back to me and I sighed. The three boys laughed themselves into the living room (they crawled their ways into there). Jin floated there a bit before finally asking what was going on. "I convicted Hiei of loving men and not women." Jin's eyes widened and shook his head furiously.

"There be no mistakin' that Hiei likes women. Mokuro was a good example for that." Jin then gently flew into the living room and started yelling at the three laughing boys (who were starting to turn blue). _'Mokuro? Who's that?'_

"_None of your business Onna,"_ a voice hissed in my head. I glanced wide eyed toward Hiei to see him casting his glares between the living room and myself. Before I could ask if the voice in my head was him, Hiei stalked off upstairs and slammed his door shut. I winced at the force of which his door had shut.

"I think I royally pissed him off." Kurama nodded; his disapproval about what had just happened still clearly etched into his features.

…

Hiei could not believe that onna would accuse him of loving men! It was preposterous! Of course Hiei did not like the onna; then again, Hiei did not like many people. He only tolerated the Detective and the others because he was forced to do so, and the fox was one of his only friends (if you wanted to call him that) that Hiei did not mind to be around so much; the fox was never loud or obnoxious as the two buffoons were. The onna's brother was…okay…but he stepped out of his place too many times for Hiei's liking. The Wind Master was alright as well, but too happy for Hiei's liking. Then there was the onna: She was annoying, but smart (at times), though she did not know when to keep her mouth shut. (Today had proven that much to Hiei.) She also was usually friendly to everyone, though she tended to be terse with Hiei. Hiei supposed that was because of the differences between the ways that Hiei and the others had treated her. She also was getting to be a strong demon, though not nearly anywhere strong enough to compete with Hiei, let alone any of the other detectives—well, perhaps the oaf; he was very weak and stupid. Still, Hiei could not believe what had just taken place downstairs; and then the ex-shinobi had to go and include Mokuro into the mix. Hiei sighed, wishing that people would allow the woman's name and spirit to be laid to rest. She had died almost a half of a year (in human time) ago. Hiei looked out the window and decided to simply forgo lunch and dinner and stay to meditate in his room and possibly calm himself down.

* * *

_Okay, I know that with this chapter you will either love me or hate me. But it was slightly needed in the progression of the story, so don't hate me just yet please... *hopeful smile* Please review, even if it is to tell me that you hate the fact that I had Kimiko think Hiei was gay._


	10. 9 Cat and Mouse

The following day was not a good day in the slightest. First, I woke up early to train with Jin (like I normally would have), but he told me that I did not require his assistance any longer, and then he left. Then, I was about to head back into my room to possibly catch up on a little bit of sleep before Hiei's training (which I was sure was going to be brutal), but a voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Where do you think you're going Onna?" I turned around to find Hiei leaning against a tree, arms crossed and a glare on his face. I said that I was going to get a little bit of sleep before his training. He, however, had other plans. "No you are not. Your training starts now." He had me train in speed first; he did this by having me wear weights around my waist, wrists, and ankles. He then had me run around in the woods. During the run, he apparently thought it would be amusing (or he was taking his revenge for me calling him gay the previous night) if he started attacking me while I tried (in vain) to dodge his attacks. After that lovely and fun time, it was time for weapons training.

He tossed me my sword that he was allowing me to have (but only for training sadly; I liked that sword) as we approached the rink. I caught the sword and bent down to remove my weights, but a sword narrowly missed my cheek as I did so. I looked up with wide eyes as Hiei glared at me, commanding me to keep the weights on as we trained. I mentally sighed; I knew his training was going to be brutal…but this is killer. I sighed aloud as I jumped up onto the rink (or tried to, the weights kept me from doing so; oddly enough, I had been getting used to jumping up onto the rink and I was finally able to do so—well, without the weights I was able to do so) and walked up to Hiei. _'Something is telling me that I'm going to die during this…'_

Hiei did not waste any time in taking me down. Within one second I was sighing and dreading this training session, and the next I felt the cold rink on my back after Hiei swept my feet out from under me and held his sword to my throat. "You're weak Onna." I sighed mentally and bit back the comment of 'no shit Sherlock, that's why I need training' as I tried to stand. Hiei had other plans as he started attacking me with his sword, forcing me to roll away from him lest I wanted to be decapitated.

"Hiei! What the hell?" I screamed as I finally was able to catch my breath after countless minutes of trying to dodge his sword swipes. "If the reason you're acting like this is because of last night, I'm sorry. Okay?" He 'hn'ed me and sheathed his sword. "Look, I'm sorry that I said that, but anyone could draw that conclusion given the things that I noticed…" I trailed off and looked down. I did not notice him raise an eyebrow in my direction. When I received no answer, I glanced up and saw him turn and start walking away from me. I sighed and glared at the back of his retreating form. _'He is such a complicated jack ass…'_

"_Want to tell me that to my face, Onna?"_ I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again I saw Hiei standing within three inches of my face, a glare in place. I screeched and jumped backwards about five feet. I was _so_ not expecting him to be standing _that_ close to me. His glare deepened (if at all possible) as he gently rubbed his left ear. _"You are a loud mouth, Onna."_ The comment, for once, was no spoken in anger, but the tone he used was dry as he advanced to where I was standing. His eyes stayed narrowed at me, but he spoke nothing or did anything; he just stood there. After a second or two of staring at each other, I finally could not take it any longer and asked, "What? Do you want a face to face apology?" He still spoke nothing. After another second or two, I sighed as the air around us turned awkward. _'Why is he still staring at me?'_

He still spoke nothing as he continued to look at me until he turned his head toward the house suddenly. After a millisecond of looking at the house, he walked off toward the house. At the edge of the rink he turned to look at me and raised an eyebrow. "You coming or are you going to keep standing there and looking like an idiot all day?" His tone was somewhat of amusement; I blinked and quickly caught up with him. He surprisingly waited for me and allowed me to walk into the house first. Apparently he forgave me…but I doubted it.

Inside, a blue haired and pink eyed girl in a pink kimono was floating on an oar. She looked in our direction as Hiei and I entered the house. "Good, I was just about to go out there and get you two. Koenma wishes to speak with all of you; Kori and Kimiko included." We all nodded and a portal appeared. We all stepped into the portal and fell in Koenma's office. I fell and landed on my ass with a thud. I was still not used to traveling by those things. Koenma looked up from his desk as he heard us enter.

"Oh good, Kimiko and Kori are here as well. Now we can get to the matter at hand: I called you all here because something fishy has been happening in the Ningenkai (or human world for Kimiko and Kori). Many odd items from museums are being stolen."

"And you're calling us in…why?" Yusuke asked slightly annoyed.

"I'm getting to that part." Koenma glared at Yusuke, who rolled his eyes; he obviously was not intimidated by the toddler. "Normally there would be no cause for concern; however, all the items that are being stolen were placed there for the greater good of all humanity. Once all pieces have been collected and assembled (there are nine in all), they would form into a talisman that could be used to kill humans and demons alike. (At this point, Yusuke muttered, "Great, another 'save the worlds' mission.")

"What I want all of you to do is go to where the final piece is being held and stop whoever is taking them. This is a high priority case, which is why both Kimiko and Kori will be going as well."

"They would only slow us down. It would be better if they just stayed here," Hiei said coldly. My eyes narrowed at the fire demon.

He was forever being a pain and underestimating us. Kori and I had more strength then Hiei gave us credit for. I had gotten a lot stronger over the past few weeks and Kori had been able to compete with the boys in their training and had lasted a decent amount of time. Yusuke had congratulated Kori after the training one day saying that he was getting a lot better. Kori was now considered a high C- to low B-class, while I was a mid C-class. During this mission, I decided quietly to myself that I would try and prove myself to everyone because they obviously thought little of me.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way Hiei, but they will be joining you four boys, and they will be able to help you. If I did not think they could not handle the mission, I would not send them in there; I believe they will be fine." After a second of silence he continued his explanation of the mission, "You all will be taking the portal to where the last artifact is in the Ningenkai. Your mission, as stated before, is to protect the piece of the artifact and stop whoever is behind this. From the information we gathered, the person will strike at a quarter 'til midnight. You should be able to hide out in the museum until then. Once the person has been caught and the last piece of the artifact has been secured, just call for a portal and I will collect you all. Are there any questions?" No one uttered a word. "Good; go back and get ready. You all will leave once you are ready." A portal appeared, and we were dismissed.

We all went back to the house and got ready to go on the mission; I changed from my training outfit (a tank top and sweats and the flats that Monk Miatsu gave me) and into a black tank top, tight but movable black pants, and the flats that Monk Miatsu gave me. I also grabbed the sword that Hiei was (apparently) allowing me to keep. We went back to Koenma's office (via portal) where he wished us good luck before we were sent on our way. We appeared in the woods closest to where we were to go. Yusuke led us to the museum, and we snuck inside as the doors were closing for the night. We quickly found where the piece of the artifact was located and positioned ourselves around the artifact. It was a good two to three hours before we received any action (other than hiding from the security guards).

A quiet set of footsteps (that sounded like heels) came to Hiei's and Kurama's attention, and they quickly alerted the rest of us to what was happening. We all watched the artifact closely as the footsteps drew closer to our position. An animal appeared in our view and, as we stared at it more closely, we realized that the animal was a wolf. I stared at the wolf in confusion. Why was there a wolf in a museum? It was at that precise moment that I felt a presence sneak up behind me, as well as my sword that was at my hip be taken and placed against my neck. My eyes widened and I froze in place.

"Move with me, or I'll kill you," a female voice whispered quietly in my ear. The woman nudged me forward and had me start walking toward the remaining piece of the talisman. As we walked toward the artifact, I saw the team look at me oddly until they glared as they noticed what was happening. The woman turned me around so that I was facing the team. I felt her grab the artifact and pull me closer to her. "Thanks Spirit Detectives for your cooperation. I will see you again in the near future. Ja ne!" By the playful sound in her voice, I was sure that she had winked at the team and my brother. She continued to make me walk with her; obviously she was opting to continue to use me as a human shield. Her wolf growled at anyone who dared to move, even Hiei. When we reached where she would leave with her wolf, she knocked me out by hitting me over the back of the neck/head.

…

The team watched as the female wolf demon knocked Kimiko out and took Kimiko with her as the wolf demon took her leave. Yusuke growled in aggravation.

"What the hell? There was no need to take Kimiko with her! Koenma, portal!" A portal appeared and all the boys walked through and exited into Koenma's office.

"So how did the mission—where's Kimiko?"

Hiei scoffed, "She was kidnapped; I warned you she would be in the way, but you didn't listen much to your disadvantage and my annoyance."

Yusuke was about to punch Hiei, but Kori beat Yusuke to the punch. Literally. Hiei gripped his cheek as Kori glared Hiei. "I don't _ever_ want to hear you say such things about my sister again. Or it will be more than a simple punch that you will receive from me," Kori hissed at the crimson eyed oni. Yusuke could not help but agree with the enraged sibling.

"Boys, knock it off! This is serious…Kimiko being kidnapped is a bad thing—a _very_ bad thing. We have to find her…and fast." Koenma muttered the latter part more to himself than anyone in particular in the room. "Botan! We have to make the search for the thief's hideout quick so we can rescue Kimiko before he does anything to her."

"Her."

"What?" Koenma turned to the speaker—Kurama.

"The person who took Kimiko was a female wolf demon." Koenma thanked Kurama and Botan jotted down the new information; the normally cheery grim reaper quickly left the room in search of the missing team member.

…

I awoke a short time later to find myself bound and gagged. I started to rock back and forth; muffled screams of profanity were coming from my mouth.

"Oh good, you're awake." I turned to my right and saw that there was a wolf demoness next to me. Her hair was silver while her ears and tail were black. Her eyes were a pale lavender in color. She wore a black halter top with red and black fighting gloves. Around her neck was a black choker collar with a gold tag hanging from it. She wore black shorts and black, thigh-high boots with heels that were about two to three inches in height.

"Why the hell am I here?" was what I tried to say but it came out more like, "Mmmhm managh mmfi?" The woman laughed at me.

"Would you like me to take out your gag?" My glare made her laugh again. She walked up to me and pulled the gag down and around my neck.

"Who the hell are you? Why the fucking hell am I here? Why in the fuck do you want the talisman?" Excuse me for my foul mood, but I do not take kindly to someone kidnapping me for _no __fucking __reason__!_ The okami looked at me with a shocked expression.

"Such foul language for someone so young…" I apparently look younger than I actually am.

"I'm eighteen so just leave me the fuck alone, or let me go you fucking fucker!" That was when she replaced the gag back into my mouth. So I resorted to glaring fiery gaggers at her annoying self. She laughed at me again. I took notice that she obviously found me hilarious. Once I was free of the bondage and gag, I would _show_ her how _funny_ I really was.

"I guess there is no harm in telling you the answers to your very foul language questions, seeing as how you are going to be dead shortly. You should know the name of your killer." She gave an evil chuckle before she continued. "My name is Ookami, Ayame. I want the talisman because I have been taken advantage over and seek revenge on those who have done me wrong; I also want to rule the world." She gave a small sigh as she stared at the ceiling in a daydream sort of state. "As to why you are here? I have just recently told you the answer to that, but in case you don't remember: you are to be the first victim of the talisman." She finished her explanation with a wicked smile. As I stared at her, I was sure that a sweat drop was on the back of my head…those were the _lamest_ excuses I had ever heard. _'Geez…talk about holding a grudge. It's called let go and move on! Why do people have to have the lamest reasons to do something stupid or evil?' _I glared at her some more as she turned away from me and back toward assembling the talisman.

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_I'm sorry that it took me so long to post this….the Writer's Block Fairies were attacking. Thankfully they did not win the battle, but the war is far from over. :P Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter/part. I would have added more to it, but I figured that you all have waited long enough. Thank you for being patient with me. ^-^ Also, some interaction between Hiei and Kimiko are coming up…just so you know. :) Please review! They keep me wanting to write this story. :)  
_


	11. 10 New Companion

Koenma's people found the wolf's hideout and Koenma immediately sent the detectives over there (Koenma feared that if he were to send Kori, things would not go so smoothly as Kori may prove to be more of a nuisance than a help when it came to rescuing his sister) to try and stop the chaos before it happened and, of course, to save Kimiko a the same time. The boys were dropped off near the hideout and silently entered the place in question. Yusuke indicated that Kurama and Hiei went first. The other two followed directly behind them. Kurama and Hiei glanced toward where Kimiko was being held captive.

…

I sighed with anger clearly residing on my features. I opened my eyelids and glanced toward Ayame, who had her back facing me as she assembled the talisman. The sound of something shuffling near me caught my attention. I quickly glanced to where I heard the noise and saw a flash of red and black, followed by a flash of green and blue. I blinked in repetition a few times, my mind trying to decipher what the heck the flashes could possibly be. Then an idea popped into my mind: Maybe it was the boys.

'_Hiei, is that you? Are you all here?'_

I was a few seconds before I received an answer. _"Yes Onna, we're all here."_

I mentally sighed in relief. _'Good. Now…get me the hell outta here!'_

…

Hiei grunted quietly as the boys prepared to rescue Kimiko. Kurama looked toward Hiei in question. "She decided to shout in her head…She has a very loud mouth," Hiei muttered dryly as he gripped his sore head. That only motivated Hiei to add to the list of reasons why he wanted to retaliate on the onna: First, being called gay, and now this. Hiei was really starting to get irked by this onna more and more lately; it almost stirred up a spark of worry in Hiei…almost. The kitsune quietly asked Hiei if he was going to be all right; Hiei nodded but brushed his sore head off as unimportant as the group was about to set the plan they had made in motion: Kurama was to go and free the girl while Hiei was to quickly take care of the wolf demon. That was when all heads of the group snapped behind them as a low growl was heard in said direction. Hiei's right eye almost started to twitch due to agitation: they had all forgotten about the blasted beast that was with the wolf demon.

Hiei glanced around quickly to take in everyone's reactions to the wolf's presence: the detective looked ready to kill the beast, while the oaf looked ready to soil his pants. The red headed kitsune, however, looked annoyed with himself for missing such an important factor of the mission; he did not blame the fox though as Hiei felt the same as his team mate. Hiei also took notice that no one made a move as to take care of the beast, so in one swift movement, Hiei had the wolf unconscious on the floor. It was in the few following moments as the boys put their plan into action that said boys inadvertently did not notice that the sound of metal being placed together had stopped.

…

I waited patiently for one of the boys to come and rescue me from this annoying imprisonment. It took them longer than I thought it would to send Kurama out to come and untie me. Right as he was about to untie the bondage around my arms, Ayame started sneaking up behind him, an angered look on her face. My eyes narrowed and I willed the wind to blow her back a few feet. Her sudden screech of surprise alerted Kurama to her presence. He turned around quickly and withdrew a rose from his hair and turned it into his rose whip. He snapped his whip once in attempt to get her to back away from the two of us a bit more; she did just that with a scowl on her face. There was a blur of black behind her accompanied by the sickening sound of metal tearing through flesh as Hiei sliced her in two through the middle. I winced slightly as Kurama turned to send Hiei a thankful smile; however, Hiei just blew him off, giving the red head his usual response of "Hn" as he sheathed his sword and walked away. I believed I heard him mutter "weakling" as he walked away toward where the other two boys were gathering the pieces of the talisman.

Kurama made quick work of the bindings around my wrists and ankles, as well as the gag around my mouth. I muttered a quiet "Thank you" as Kurama helped me stand and led me over to the others. Yusuke was picking up the pieces of the talisman because Kuwabara refused to touch them, muttering something about evil metal and magic as Yusuke huffed and turned around to start picking up the pieces; Kuwabara, however, did not get out of helping Yusuke carry them back for Koenma.

As we were walking out of the cave/hideout, I heard a whimper and turned to see the wolf sitting on its haunches and looking directly at me. I tilted my head to the side and took a step toward the animal. It lay down and turned belly up in a submissive pose; it also looked scared that I would hurt it. I went to take another step forward, but a hand being placed on my shoulder stopped me from doing so. I turned to see Kurama looking at the wolf warily.

"Kimiko, I wouldn't. It was the wolf demon's after all, and it could wish to attack you for killing its owner." I looked back at the animal in question. It whined while giving me some of the saddest eyes I had ever seen on an animal. I could not let it just stay here; it was a weakness of mine: I had a soft spot from abandoned animals. Another whine was heard from the animal.

"I don't think so." I took another step forward (so that I could be away from the boys a bit) and knelt down. "Come here," I called gently to the animal and made a few beckoning sounds while holding out my hand for the creature to smell it. It glanced up at the boys, then to me, the boys, then rested on me and took a few cautious steps forward, its ears plastered against its head and tail hanging low to the ground. It continued this way for a few more steps until it was close enough to smell my hand. After it took in my scent, it took one more step forward—after a quick glance directed toward the boys—so that I could pet it. During this whole process, I was quietly encouraging the wolf to continue forward. When I reached my hand out to pet it, it ducked down like a skittish dog whose owner abused it. I frowned at the thought. I started scratching behind its ear and spoke quietly, "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." It seemed to understand what I had been saying because it got a little closer and rubbed against my hand, obviously enjoying the ear scratching it was receiving from me.

"Um…Kimiko? You do realize you're petting a _wolf_, right?" Kuwabara asked as the boys watched the scene unfold.

"Of course, what else would I be petting, you?" That earned a snicker from Yusuke. I looked back at the wolf to see that it was looking between the boys and I in what almost seemed to be fascination. I stopped petting the wolf and stood; it backed away a bit until it saw that I was smiling at it, so it moved closer to me again.

"As touching as this moment is, I believe Koenma would want us to return now." Hiei's sarcastic remark brought me down from my happy mood to irritation with the fire demon. Oddly enough, the wolf started growling at said oni and stood in front of me in what seemed like a protective stance. I watched in a mixture of amazement and amusement, until Kurama suggested that I stop the wolf least it attack Hiei. I, unfortunately, had to agree. I could not allow it to attack Hiei (even if he did deserve it) if I wanted to keep the animal with me, and I most certainly wanted to keep it.

"Easy." The word left my mouth before I realized what I had said. I also realized that I had placed a hand gently on top of the wolf's head. The low growl that had been emitting from the wolf's mouth abruptly stopped as it turned to look at me. "Let's go home guys; I'm sure Kori is worried sick." They all agreed and we walked forward out of the cave. I stopped once I realized something was off. I looked back to see the wolf staring at me, its tail wagging. "Well, come on." I was then tackled to the ground by the wolf, and my face was cleaned by all of the licks the wolf was showering me with. The boys laughed as I tried fruitlessly to remove the wolf from on top of me, laughing the entire time.

* * *

_Okay, I'm sorry it took so long to update this, but I did now, so yeah... please review, it really does keep me wanting to continue this story. Please? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of _Tamer of the Dragon_. Until next time!_

_~JacesVampiress  
_


	12. 11 Back to the Basics

We walked into Koenma's office via portal, and I was instantly pulled into an embrace by Kori. "I was so worried," were his whispered words as we hugged. He looked behind me to see the wolf _right_ behind me. "Um…Kimi, why is there a wolf behind you?"

"Oh that wolf?" I asked as I turned to look at my new pet/companion. "It was lonely and needed a new owner," I replied as nonchalantly as I could. It didn't work toward my benefit.

"What?" Kori asked, which was echoed by the young prince. Koenma looked at me incredulously.

"You are meaning to tell me that _this_ is the same wolf that helped the wolf demon who kidnapped you?"

I squeaked out, "One and the same," before Koenma and Kori both exploded on me. If I were an animal, I would have had my ears pinned to my head and be on my back as my wolf did to me just a while ago. But sadly, I was not an animal and could not do said things. My wolf, however, seemed to sense my uneasiness and started growling low in its throat. Both males stopped their tirades to look at the canine. It stopped growling as soon as they stopped speaking.

Koenma was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke again. "It seems that the wolf has grown quite attached to you within this short amount of time, Kimiko." He sighed before he added, "I guess there is no getting rid of it now, is there?" I thanked Koenma though he waved it off. "Now, I need to speak to the Spirit Detectives so Kori, Kimiko, you are dismissed, and Kimiko?" Kori disappeared through the portal as I turned back to look at the prince with a questioning look on my face. "Try to not let the wolf make a mess of the house; it took me a while to get it the way it is now, and I really do not wish to spend any more time or energy to try and fix it." I grinned and disappeared through the portal, my wolf right behind me.

…

Koenma waited until the portal completely closed before he started to speak. "Mission well done boys, but there was something that really troubled me about this particular mission: Kimiko seems to need a lot more training that I first imagined. She seems to be coming along nicely enough with mastering the elements and should be fine on her own until her new sensei comes, but she seems to be seriously lacking in the areas of self defense and weaponry.

"Yusuke, Hiei, I need you to double your trainings with her. I believe hand to hand combat is more important at the moment than weaponry where Kimiko is concerned. That being said, Yusuke, you will train with her early in the morning and continue until lunch. Hiei, you will take over after lunch, and her training with you shall continue until dinner; I want this to be happening every day, with the exception of Sunday so she can have a day to recover and prepare for the rest of the week because she is still not used to this sort of training. Kurama, I want you to be her spotter. If she looks like she is in desperate need of a break, then you are to tell Yusuke or Hiei and they are to give her a short break to regain her breath and a little strength."

"What do you want me to do?" Kuwabara asked. After a moment of thought, Koenma decided that the best task for Kuwabara was to make sure that Kimiko rested and relaxed when she was not training. "Shrimp is also training her in speed, so does that affect anything?"

"Hm…" Koenma looked thoughtful for a few moments before he spoke, "If that's the case, then Hiei, you are to start your training as soon as you both have finished eating. Kurama, I want you take Hiei's place on Saturdays and train Kimiko how to sense energies. Yusuke, you start her training as soon as you return. Is that understood to everyone?" Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama all spoke their understandings. "Hiei?"

"Hn," came the fire oni's usual response.

…

I stared at my wolf as I sat on the couch relaxing for a bit while I waited for the boys to return; Kori was in the kitchen fixing us something to eat for lunch. I tilted my head to the side and spoke quietly to my wolf. "I forgot to check what sex you are…I wonder if you're male or female…"

"_I am female and my name is Senko, though Ayame called me Sen…when she wasn't calling me 'wolf.'"_

My eyes widened incredulously as I stared at my wolf. "D-did you just talk to me?"

The wolf nodded while Kori called, "Nope, but I was about to. Our lunch is done."

"Th-the wolf just spoke!" I was on the verge of hysterics.

Kori walked into the room and handed me my sandwich that he made. I did not respond to his presence nor the sandwich in front of my face; I was too busy staring at Senko in awe. "You know that animals don't talk, right?" After a few seconds of silence (during which my attention was wholly focused on Sen) Kori spoke again. "Kimi, I know you like your new pet and all, but you really do need to eat." His patience was wearing thin as I continued to stare at Senko.

"You really can speak can't you?" The look on Senko's face portrayed annoyance.

"_Yes, I can talk—well, sort of—can we get over this fact and move on?"_ I nodded slightly, my mouth slightly gaped open. Kori looked between the wolf and I in a confused manner as the boys walked in via portal. _"Good. Just a little bit of information for you: you are the only one who is able to hear me, as you are now my owner. Also, the boys who just walked in are trying to get your attention." _The latter part was spoken with amusement. I blinked in repetition a few times and gave my head a little shake to clear it and regain focus to the topic at hand.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" I looked to Yusuke whose mouth was open. It appeared that I had cut him off…oops.

A scowl appeared on Yusuke's face as he repeated himself, "I said that because your capture, Koenma has decided that there should be a change in your training schedule." I sighed. I had figured there would have been a change. I then asked what the new schedule was. "I will be training you every day but Sundays in the morning until lunch, then Hiei will take over once the two of you have finished your meal and will train you until dinner is ready. Kurama will take Hiei's place on Saturdays though and will teach you how to sense energy. He did well with Kuwabara when we trained for the Dark Tournament a while ago, so I'm sure he will be fine." I was sure he just said that to reassure me.

Yusuke then continued to describe the changes to my schedule, "Kurama will also be with you when you train with Hiei and me to tell us whether or not you need a break. Kuwabara's and Kori's job is to make sure that you rest and relax while you can." He then asked if the new schedule was all right. I agreed on a sigh because it wasn't like I really had a choice on the matter. "Good. Your training starts as soon as you finish that sandwich of yours." I suddenly lost my appetite.

I stood and went upstairs and changed into my usual training clothes: a tank top and some yoga pants. Then I walked back downstairs to join the others. "You gonna finish your sandwich?"

"Who's gonna be training me tonight? You or Hiei?" Yusuke replied that he was, though he was confused as he spoke the words. "Good, then I'll eat my sandwich." Yusuke blinked a few times then started laughing a bit.

After I finished my food, Yusuke and I walked outside, Sen following us. Yusuke looked back when he heard noises behind us. He stopped and let Sen walk up next to me. "You wanna see your new owner get beat up, huh?" His tone was playful and light, like the tone a cat person would use when talking to a cat. He reached his hand out to pet Sen but stopped short when she started to growl. We both looked at her confused, me more than Yusuke.

"Sen, what's wrong?"

"_I'm not going to sit around and allow him to attack you."_ When I started laughing, both of them looked at me.

"He's not going to hurt me; he was joking. Hiei's the one you have to watch out for if you are concerned about someone hurting me." She stopped growling, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at me. "She understands what we say, just so you know. And she thought you were actually going to hurt me." Sen then played the good doggy and nosed Yusuke's hand to get him to pet her. He squatted down and started scratching behind her right ear. She sat down and started wagging her tail. In that moment, she reminded me of a cute little puppy.

After scratching Senko's ear for a bit, Yusuke stood and looked at me. "You ready to start your training?"

…

Kurama watched from the kitchen window as Yusuke and Kimiko started to train. Kimiko's wolf lay down in the grass next to the rink and watched them as well. Kurama found it a little odd that the wolf did so but shrugged the matter off as unimportant, guessing that its behavior was due to a few years of working for and aiding the wolf demon, Ayame. A presence in the kitchen made Kurama turn from the window to look at the incomer. Kori stood against the cupboards adjacent to the sinks (that Kurama was standing in front of) and watched the training scene unfold as well.

"Hello Kori." Upon closer inspection of the younger man's features Kurama noticed an uneasy look in his eyes. "What's the matter?"

Kori sighed and walked to stand next to Kurama at the sinks and stared out the window watching Kimiko train as he spoke. "I'm worried about Kimi." Kurama was about to reassure Kori that Kimiko was save now that she was home and that nothing would be allowed to get anywhere near her, but Kori spoke up before Kurama could say as such. "I'm worried about Kimi because I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to stick around here and how she will react to my leaving."

"You're leaving? Why?" The fox looked toward the younger male in confusion.

"I want to look for Kimiko's and my parents. They have been missing since before I forced Kimi to run away to a friend's house; now that I look back at that, I'm very relieved that she went to Keiko's." Kurama nodded in understanding. "I know that our parents have to be somewhere in the Makai; there's nowhere else they could go without being tracked by their scent. The only problem is that they never told me anything about where they would be going; not even a clue." Kori sighed. "I'm worried that I may never find them."

"If you tell Koenma I'm sure—"

"I already told him when we first arrived. He also promised that he would send a team to look into it, and once I decided that it was time for me to go to just tell him and he would send me to where the information pointed."

"That was very kind of him." Kori nodded in agreement. "When do you think you will leave? So I can warn the others in attempts to help calm Kimiko down and help her get through the change."

"I think—" It was at that moment that a huge crash was heard and both males jerked their heads to look out of the window to see that Yusuke was grumbling and lifting himself off of the ground in front of a tree that had a large crater in it while Kimiko stood staring at Yusuke with wide, shocked eyes; her hands were covering her mouth.

…

"I'm so sorry Yusuke. I don't know what happened. One second I'm standing around looking for you and the next a cool rush washed over me and you were sent flying." I continued to speak in a rushed garble as I tried to help Yusuke stand and walk over to the bench near where Sen had been laying. Sen was now walking toward us and looked up at Yusuke curiously.

"I'm fine Kimiko…I was just taken by surprise when I was suddenly blown back by a gust of wind." A look of guilt crossed my features. Yusuke noticed so he added in a light tone, "You seem to be getting better at controlling the wind." A bubble of incredulous laughter escaped from my lips. Leave it to Yusuke to make a joke out of his pain. That was when Kurama and Kori came running outside.

"Yusuke, are you alright?" Kori asked as he took Yusuke from me so that he could carry him. I allowed it to happen without complaint; Kori was a lot taller than I and was more around Yusuke's height.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Your sister just gave me a run for my money." He then started to laugh. I shook my head at Yusuke; he really was a nut. Kori and Kurama both commented that his being fine was a good thing, though the tone they spoke in was a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. After Kurama had made certain that Yusuke really was fine, he allowed Yusuke to stand. Yusuke looked at me and grinned, "Wanna get back to training?" I nodded and sighed, standing. Sen seemed to sigh as well and then she laid down on the ground next to the rink again and looked as if she fell asleep as we continued to train.

…

Hiei watched the onna and the detective from his window. She was defiantly gaining strength, but she was nowhere near as strong, nor fast, as she had the potential to be…not that Hiei cared. Hiei had convinced himself that the reason he was watching the detective train the onna was to see if there were any improvements in her since the kidnapping; to see if the kidnapping had spurred her to improve her skills in any way at all. Deep within the fire oni—very, _very_ deep inside—Hiei knew there was another reason as to why he was watching the onna train…he just couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly, which troubled the short (but taller than the onna, Hiei added with a slight mental smirk) fire youkai. Hiei then decided that he would try and figure out what the alternative motive was. And he would do so and annoy the onna as well, as she was annoying him so often. Yes…that seemed like a wonderful idea. Hiei allowed a small, barely visible smirk to surface on his lips as he continued to watch the onna attack the detective with weak punches (compared to what he had taken in his life).

* * *

_Kimiko seems to be becoming stronger, and also has gained the attention of a certain fire demon :D. Anyway…I have finally decided how Hiei is to achieve his revenge on being called gay, but it will be taking place in the following couple of chapters…which sadly will be filler; however, they won't be too long, so there shouldn't be _too_ many complaints…I hope. ^^; Anyway, Please review, as always requested, and let me know what you think of this story so far and, if you want, what you hope to happen in the future (the latter can be given via PM if you wish…I wouldn't mind :)). Please, please, please review. I will put a limitation on a minimum on the number of reviews I must receive if necessary; I know there are enough readers to do such…about 400 if I'm not mistaken. I will not enforce this (if I decide to anyway) until after the filler parts have been posted. Anyway…that's enough for now. Thank you all for the support. I love and appreciate every single one. :)_


	13. 12 Interlude part 1

_Due to a recent reminder via review, I've just realized that I didn't say that this story is actually based loosely off of Littlemija's Heart's Starlight. Sorry that I forgot to mention that before…anyway, on with the story!_

* * *

It had been a few days since the defeat of Ayame, and my training as been practically non-stop since then. I suppose I should be grateful that Koenma and the boys care about this much as to train me _every day_, but at the moment all I could think of was how annoyed I was at my mentor (if you wanted to call him that). I glared at the male demon in front of me as he "corrected" me again.

"Wrong Onna. Do it again." He practically growled his words. I gave a screech of aggravation.

"How the hell can I be doing it wrong? I have been doing this annoy ass technique of yours for the past couple of days and you haven't even told me or given me a hint as to _what_ it was that I was supposed to be doing or how to do it! Maybe if you just showed me once how to correctly follow out the technique, I would know how to do the damned thing." I glared as the teme told me to "do it again." Those were the only words he seemed to speak.

The afternoon Hiei took over my training was hell. It was at that moment that I realized that the peace that Hiei and I had, had been lost; he was taking his revenge. He had me wearing weights about three times the weight of the first ones he had me wear originally; then he had attacked me while I was trying to run around for the normal speed training he usually pulled on me which was seeing how fast I could run around the normal route in the woods while tree hoping. (I am proud to say that I can actually tree hop now.) After that was when Hiei had me start working on a technique that I had absolutely _no_ idea as to what I was to accomplish or how to pull off the technique correctly. When I had (actually) asked the first time (two days prior) Hiei had just said his usual 'Hn' and told me to keep going. It seemed he realized that lack of communication was a way to get under my skin…so the gentleman he was, he decided to do just that: talk as little as possible to me. So, I was nearing the point of frustration that made me want to rip off that pretty little head of his.

"I'd like to see you try Onna." Okay, so I stand corrected: he talks, but it is mainly just insults. I glared at Hiei before risking a glance toward the fox oni. Kurama was watching the two of us in a mixture of him knowing something we both did not and something short of an inside joke. The look almost made me want to rip off _his_ pretty little head, but I quickly let the idea go; it wasn't Kurama's that I was so pissed or that he found something funny…it was Hiei's fault.

"Hiei, perhaps a small break is in order for her to cool off a bit…and to allow her to calm down and not want to take your head off." His eyes held amusement as he spoke the words. Hiei quickly replied that I was in no dire need of a break so I did not receive one. I honestly didn't care either way.

Hiei turned back to me and commanded me to "do it again." My eyes clearly showed my agitation as I took the usual stance of a sword fighter. Hiei charged at me with his sword and I blocked his attack almost with ease (he obviously wasn't really trying…shocker). I struggled to push him back a little, but he didn't give in the slightest. Then an idea came to me and I willed the wind to blow him back, but he dodged just before the wind could do so. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"That's cheating! Stay outta my head!" A very small, amused smirk rose to his lips before he attacked me again. This time I tried not to think about what I was doing as I willed the wind to blow him back again. It didn't work…again. I glared at my "mentor" as I charged him. I was surprised when I knocked him down to the ground. I looked at him confused as he did the same. I was distracted from staring at Hiei in a confused manner when Yusuke shouted, "That was awesome!"

I looked behind me to see that all of the boys were outside and standing next to Kurama. "What do you mean?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Of course you wouldn't see it. You disappeared! You were at one side of the rink in one second and in the next you knocked Shorty down." Hiei growled at his unwelcomed nickname. "It was awesome! You shouldda saw yourself."

"Indeed, it was a sight to be seen." Kurama nodded with a smile.

"Really?" I asked as I grinned. Well that explained why I was able to knock Hiei down. "Any ideas on how I did that?" Kurama chuckled and suggested that I molded myself into the wind instead of using the wind to increase my speed as I usually did then he added, "But that's only a guess." I shrugged that aside as I stated that "either way, it was awesome." I finished with a grin.

~x~

It was after dinner and everyone was doing something. Kori, Kuwabara, and I were playing a game of Gin; Kuwa was losing horribly. Yusuke and Kurama were talking quietly about training techniques to use to help train me better, and Hiei was sitting on the window seat as usual. I vaguely wondered why he sat there all the time, but let the question go figuring I would never find out. That was when the TV (that I had no idea how it got there, or that it was there) turned on and Koenma's face appeared. I blinked in confusion.

"Since when was that TV there?"

"I put it in yesterday while all of you were out training," Koenma explained waving the matter off. "Anyway, there is a new mission that requires the Detectives' attention, so boys I need you to get here now." A portal appeared. I asked about Kori and myself. "This mission just requires the boys, but I want you to continue your training Kimiko while the boys are gone, is that understood?" I sighed and gave my consent. "Good. I will need to talk to Kimiko later, once the boys return from their mission. And Kori, if you like, you may help your sister with her training." Then the screen went blank and Kori and I were left alone in the large house. I sighed and reached for the remote.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kori asked as I turned on the TV.

"Watching TV, not like a can train right now anyway." He sighed and allowed me to continue to watch the TV. After a while, I started nodding off while watching NCIS and few other similar shows.

"Kimi, I think now's a good time for bed." His tone was amused as he spoke. I nodded tiredly and turned off the television and walked up and into my room to find Sen lying on my bed next to the place where I normally slept. At the moment I was too tired to tell her to get down so I just allowed her to stay there as I stripped and changed then crawled into bed, shivering as the cold sheets came in contact with my body.

~x~

The following morning I woke up later than I usually did, and my body was ever so grateful for the extra sleep. I walked outside after eating a little bit of breakfast (it was about 10 in the morning if I were to take a guess when I walked outside), and then I started stretching for the jog around the usual speed training route that Hiei put me through. I sighed as I stood and started into the woods; I had made sure that I grabbed my iPod before leaving my room. I was relaxed when I returned to start my hand to hand combat training. I smiled when I saw Kori waiting for me in the rink.

"Ready to get to this?" I grinned at nodded, taking out my iPod and handing it to Sen as she walked up to me. I was extremely grateful that Sen had decided to make me her new owner. I faced my bother and we started an intense session of hand to hand combat. Fists were flying, as well as feet and bodies. It was a good hour or so before we both fell to our asses panting, though both of us were grinning.

"Well," I said panting, "that was fun." He gave a breathless chuckle and suggested we go in for a small lunch break. We both stood slowly and walked inside to do such thing. About a half an hour later I was back outside and in the small area that Yusuke had showed me when I was in heat and started working with my sword (I guessed that Hiei had given it to me seeing as how he had never asked for it back). After a while of that, I grew bored and stabbed the sword into the ground and started working with the elements.

I took a deep calming breath, raising my hands up and lowered my hands (right on top) as if I was pushing down something right in front of me. I opened my eyes and saw the earth like I was taught and placed my hands in front of my body in a circular position and focused on becoming one with the earth. I then jerked my hands upward and smiled as a pillar of earth was created. I tried my hand at wind and within a few moments I was floating in the air. I was quite happy that I was progressing so far so quickly.

…

Yusuke sighed as the boys walked in the house via portal and looked around to send Kimiko in to talk to Koenma. Upon the discovery of her missing, Yusuke turned to her sibling.

"Hey, where's your sister?"

Kori looked up from the television and shrugged. "I donno. One second I saw her walking around in the back, then the next she was gone. My guess though: She's training somewhere." Yusuke nodded and walked outside, guessing that Kimiko was in the spot that he showed her a while ago. His hypothesis had been correct because within a few minutes he was watching her fly through the air.

…

I had started to attack a few columns of earth that I had brought up and was now using wind attacks to try and blow them over. I also started kicking and punching them as well…this really was a good anger management technique. I took a deep breath before I punched a column really hard and it crumbled to the ground. I heard a shout as it crumbled and looked down to see Yusuke running away from the falling pile of earth.

"Oops. Sorry Yusuke," I called out to him as I pushed the earth back into its original place. He grumbled a bit before he walked up to me.

"So, enjoying your training?" I nodded, smiling a bit. "Good. Anyway, Koenma wants to speak with you, so we should head back." I nodded and followed him back to the house, grabbing my sword and placing it back in its sheath along the way. As soon as we walked inside the house, a portal opened up and Yusuke ushered me through. I exited it and landed on my ass. I really should try to land on my feet like the boys. I looked up at the prince and waited for him to start talking.

I didn't have to wait long because shortly after I was situated in a chair in front of his desk, he began. "Kimiko, I see that you have been improving in many areas, though especially in controlling the elements." I grinned as a response. "Well, I have finally gotten a hold of another elemental demon and she had agreed to help train you in controlling the elements. She will arrive in the matter of few following days, so tomorrow instead of training with Hiei, I want you to train with Kurama. I know that it is not Saturday, but you do need to learn this skill. I have already notified the boys of the change and they are fine with it. I am sure you will be too. Do you have any questions?"

"When I train with the elemental, do I still have to train with the boys?"

"No, you do not. Training with Kiara (that's her name) will be more than enough. I have to warn you though: she is nice, but she can be somewhat of a slave driver at times, if you know what I mean…" I chuckled and nodded. "Any more questions?" I shook my head. "Very well, I will send you back home. I will see you when Kara arrives. Until then." I stepped through the portal and back into the house. I landed in a kneeling position (I guess I was improving), then I stood and walked into the kitchen to see Kurama cooking. We ate dinner shortly after that, and then I headed to bed. Sen slept with me in my bed again, I supposed it was becoming a habit that would be hard to break.

* * *

_Okay, so this was part one of the filler...only one more left because I'm actually getting annoyed with just writing a filler XD The elemental who will be her new trainer for the elements is coming up in two more parts...so look out for it! :) And the next chapter will probably just be a funny chapter...no real point to the actual plot...anyway, I have a photobucket account for the pictures for my stories. If you go to this site you will be able to see what my characters look like:_ [dot]com/albums/af283/JacesVampiress74/Tamer%20of%20the%20Dragon-fanfiction/

_That is not exactly what Kimiko looks like. I will load the picture that I drew on there in the near future (I am actually quite happy about the picture...it's a picture with her and Hiei. :D_

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed this part of Tamer of the Dragon! Please review!_

_~JacesVampiress  
_


	14. 13 Interlude part 2

The following morning I was awakened via slobber from Sen. With a groan I turned to the side and said, "Ew…Sen, stop waking me up like that…" I heard a chuckle and looked over to see Yusuke standing over to the side grinning, as well as Kurama smiling in an amused manner. I blinked in surprise as I glanced between the two boys. "Am I missing something? Why are you both in here?"

Kurama chuckled and explained that Yusuke hadn't been able to wake me up so he had went to get Kurama to see if the red head could. They had walked into the room expecting to find me still sleeping and had found Sen licking me awake. They were pleasantly surprised and found my reaction amusing…hence the chuckles. I nodded at the explanation and told them to leave so I could get ready. They did, and I was walking down the stairs (Sen at my heels) about ten to fifteen minutes later. Kurama gave me a bowl of cereal, and I quickly ate it and walked outside to see Yusuke stretching and waiting for me. I stretched as well and then we started our training.

The training was fun: Yusuke had decided that instead of the usual "try-to-hit-me" tactic he had us use, he turned it into a game. So for a few hours we played tag…only way more violent. Yusuke explained that the only way the "it" position changed was if the "it" person was to punch the other. He was "it" first; I think he just really wanted to punch something, and I just happened to be the target. I really didn't mind too much…seeing as how I was able to punch him back. Kurama called out to the two of us that lunch was done and we walked inside laughing after I had punched him while he was distracted.

We all ate the meal Kurama made, and then all of us went outside to start the training with Kurama. Kurama had somehow suckered everyone into helping me. I found it highly interesting that even Hiei agreed to help when it wasn't his day to train me. I quickly brushed all thoughts aside as I listened to what Kurama was saying about what we were about to do.

"I want you to relax and clear your mind as I have the rest of the group hide." I gave him an odd look as he spoke. He chuckled. "I want them to hide somewhere close by in the woods so you can try and find where they are by sensing their energy, whether spirit or demon energy. Now please close your eyes and clear your mind." I did so and heard the boys jump away the moment I did so. "I want you to open your mind and find out if you can feel the energy that I am releasing." I scrunched my eyebrows together in concentration then almost gasped as I felt a presence in front of me, and saw a silhouette in a deep green of a person in front of me as well. "Good, I'm going to move and I want to see if you can follow my movements not by my voice but by my energy." I felt him move around me in a clockwise motion. When I felt him stop I turned my head in the direction I felt him stop. "Very good." I heard the smile in his voice as he spoke. "I want you to open your eyes and look around."

I did so and my eyes widened as I saw a few colors floating around me. "What do you see?" I told Kurama that I saw streams of colors around me. He smiled. "Good, those are the energy trails that I had the boys leave. I want you to find the faintest one and follow it. It would more than likely disappear if you didn't look for it now." I nodded and searched the colorful streams. I saw a navy blue trail, a crimson trail, and a reddish-purple trail. I squinted and then I saw a faint, pale orange trail. I quickly took off after that one, weaving between trees and over short shrubs before finally stopping and seeing Kuwabara sitting on the ground and grinning at me. I smiled and shook my head as he led me back to Kurama.

"Good, you found Kuwabara. It seems you do not have a problem in finding a spirit energy trail. It took Kuwabara a while to learn that trick." Kuwabara started complaining as I laughed at his disgruntled features. "Now find the faintest trail after Kuwabara's. Go find that person." I looked around and found that both the navy blue and reddish-purple seemed to be about the same in the amount of faintness. I glanced toward Kurama and saw him looking at them with the same amount of confusion. Realization dawned on his face and he was quiet for a second or two before the reddish-blue became stronger in color and started nearing a more red tone. I followed the navy blue trail after that. I went a little farther into the forest than I had when I was trailing Kuwa's. I found Kori a short time later. I grinned as he led me back to the place where Kurama and Kuwabara were. He stopped half way back and picked me up and carried me back. I screeched when he did so; he laughed and said that this way was faster and that Yusuke and Hiei were more than likely getting impatient.

Kurama had me follow the purplish-red (the one that used to be the reddish-purple) and I found Yusuke. He carried me back from the beginning, laughing when I screeched. I found Hiei through the crimson trail. However, it took me a little longer to find him because, unlike the others who were on the ground, Hiei was near the top of a tall tree. I scowled at him when I found him and he took off, leaving me to find my way back on my own. All the way back I was silently cursing, ranting, and raving about the teme. I was sure he had heard me because he didn't look too pleased when I finally made it back. A small smirk of satisfaction graced my lips as I walked up to Kurama and asked what I was to do next for this training.

Kurama gave a small smile before he said, "Now you are going to try and find them without a trail to follow." He chuckled when I blanched. "It will not be that much more difficult than the first time as the boys will stay closer to the house than they did the first time. Later on, however, we will increase the distances that they will venture from the vicinity." I sighed and closed my eyes when Kurama instructed me to do so. I again heard the boys leaving the area and sighed. Kurama didn't speak as he quickly dashed around me. I figured he was trying to see if I could feel his presence when he stopped. I focused all my attention on following Kurama so that when he stopped I turned in the direction he was in and opened my eyes to smile at him as he smiled back.

"Very well done Kimiko, now look out into the woods. Do you remember the colors of the energy trails, and who they belonged to?" I nodded. "Very well, concentrate on finding those colors as you venture through the woods. You will be able to find them Kimiko. Do you remember the distance it took you to find Kuwabara?" I nodded, my eyes already beginning to search the woods to find a familiar color and presence. "That is the distance that I have restricted them to. They will actually be trying to hide this time, so it will take you a little longer than it did the first time. Also, you do not have to follow the ones you find back here to begin again. Once you find them, they will come back here on their own so you can continue to look for the others. Understood?" I nodded and smiled, already spotting the general direction that Kuwabara's faint silhouette was positioned. "Good, you may begin."

I ran off in the direction that I sensed Kuwa and followed it in many directions until I realized he was running from me. I grinned and increased my speed to catch up to him. I finally caught up to him a few seconds later. I grinned again as I imagined his reaction to what I was about to do. I increased my speed to as fast as I could go and was in front of him in the blink of an eye. He yelped and stumbled backward. I laughed out loud as he stared at me in a scared way that clearly said that he had not been expecting me to do that. "One down…three to go." I took off into the woods again trying to find a sense of energy from any of the other boys.

I found Kori next. I had to actually tackle him to the ground in order for him to cave in and admit that he had been caught. After I had caught Kori, I went to find Yusuke; I knew I wouldn't fine Hiei for a while, so I decided to save him for last. I searched the area for a while before I caught onto Yusuke's energy signature. I found him out by a stream. When I approached him, he grinned.

"I was wondering when you were going to find me." He started scratching his head and added in a sheepish tone, "I kinda can't find my way out…That's why I'm glad you came." I started laughing. I laughed so much that I had started buckling at the waist and eventually was sitting on the ground. "Okay it's not _that_ funny," he said dryly after a minute or so of me laughing. I knew it wasn't that funny, and it wasn't. But the face he made while he said it _was_ that funny and was the reason I was laughing as I was.

I managed to squeak out, "Your face was priceless" in between breaths and laughing. He joined in my laughing and we finally calmed down a minute or so later. I stood and wiped a tear from my eye. "Okay, the way out is that way. After you get a little farther, ask Kurama to spike his energy…that should do it." Then I sighed and said, "Now it's time to find Hiei…" I glanced at Yusuke and asked, "Save a plate of dinner for me?" He snickered as he walked the way I pointed. I sighed and closed my eyes, opening it to see the energy signatures that I was familiar with. My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as I felt Hiei's presence behind me. Directly behind me.

I opened my eyes and turned around and nearly screamed when I saw Hiei standing not even an inch away from me. My face was priceless I was sure. "Uh…" was all I could get out as I stared at him. I had never really taken the time to take in his looks. I knew he was attractive; that much I knew from the dream I had had before I even met the guy. But now I decided to actually take in his features. His eyes were a beautiful and unique color: crimson with specks of black here and there. His eyes were angular and gave him an evil look, but I didn't feel that kind of vibe from him. His chin was slightly pointed, but it suited him well. His hair looked soft, but I did not dare try and find out; though it was hard to believe it could be soft with the way it was standing up on end as it was. I knew that he had a muscular upper body from the time that I had watched the boys train and he was shirtless. At the time I had asked Kurama if there was a reason behind his half-naked figure, but Kurama simply smiled and said that he usually fought without a shirt. I also knew that he was the shortest of the boys, but was still taller than me by a few inches, which kinda irked me; I was forever cursed to be the shortest. I did not know if his legs where as muscular as his chest and arms, but I figured they were with how fast he ran. I also noticed that he had a bandana around his forehead, and he had never taken it off around me. Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask about such thing, Hiei cut me off.

"I will not tell you about what is under my bandana Onna. Let's go, the others are starting to worry…especially that brother of yours." He sounded highly annoyed about the latter part. Then my brain realized what he had said and I tried to hide the blush that surfaced to my cheeks. He had heard me as I took in his features…well shit. He surprisingly walked a little ahead of me but still with me. We arrived a short while later. Kurama decided that my training would be done for the day. He and I walked inside as the other boys decided that they wanted to train some more.

I had walked in with Kurama wanting to get away from Hiei for a while; my embarrassment was far too great for me to stay. I walked in and helped Kurama with dinner. While we worked I decided that I would be safe to ask Kurama what was under Hiei's bandana.

"Hey Kurama, what's under that bandana of Hiei's?" He smiled and asked me why I wanted to know. "Well, I've never seen him take it off, and I was just wondering." I looked up from the vegetables that I had been cutting when I heard him chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Why the sudden interest in Hiei, hm?" I blushed and looked back down at the vegetables in front of me, hoping that my hair that had fallen in front of my face hid my blush. From the chuckle that came from Kurama, I realized that it hadn't hid anything, but only added to his humor. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but he shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. If Hiei hasn't told you when you asked, then I can't tell you…as a friendly courtesy."

"Why do you think I asked him?"

"I saw the way you looked annoyed with each other, and when you asked…I put two and two together," he stated shrugging. I sighed and went back to cutting the food.

…

Kimiko had been quiet all through dinner, even when Yusuke had tried to cheer her up by praising her on how far she had come since coming to live with the boys. She only murmured a quiet thanks and went back to messing with her food. Kurama had looked at with worry. She had been unusually quiet since he had told her that he couldn't tell her what was under Hiei's bandana. Surely that was not the reason she was so quiet? Kurama glanced at Kori to find the young man staring at his sister with worry as well. Well at least Kurama had been right to worry. A mental sigh resonated through his head as Kimiko continued to be quiet and messing with her food, her face held a slight twinge of sadness as she stared at her food with blank eyes. Kimiko's wolf had laid its head on her lap and stared up at its owner in what appeared to be worry, but Kurama shook that thought off as Kimiko set her plate down on the floor and allowed her wolf to finish her food.

"Did you not like the meal Kimiko?" Kurama asked worriedly as he stared at his friend. She snapped her head up to look at him and blinked in repetition a few times then said that she did like it but wasn't that hungry. After the wolf had cleared the plate, Kimiko stood, picking up the plate, and walked over to the sink to rinse her plate off and then headed upstairs, the wolf right on her heels.

"Good night," Kori and Kurama had called, followed by Kuwabara and Yusuke. A quiet "Night" was the only response the boys received.

…

I walked up the stairs and into my room then started to change without caring whether or not the door had been closed. My mind was racing with thoughts. Was there another reason why I had been so curious about Hiei? Was there another reason behind trying to improve in my training, especially with Hiei, other than that I wanted to improve? Was there an alternative motive in everything I did that concerned that demon?

"_What's the matter with you?"_ Sen was obviously pissed at my lack of attention.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at my wolf. "Nothing." Then I noticed that she had closed the door when she had followed me inside.

"_The hell it's nothing! Why are you so out of it tonight? You even gave me your food; I'm not complaining, but it's not like you. Are you sure you're okay?"_

I sighed and collapsed on my bed then stared at the ceiling. "I guess it's just that I was worried if there was another reason why I was so curious about Hiei…and if there were other reasons that I did some of the things that I did when it came to him." I heard her laughing, or what I supposed was her laughing. My left eye started to twitch; first Kurama's laughing at me and now Sen…great… "Is there something that I'm missing?" I snapped as my wolf continued to snicker.

"_Yeah, you're starting to develop feelings for the rude mother fucker.*" _She started snickering again as she watched my expression change from anger, to confusion, to embarrassment, to anger again.

"I do not like him!"

…

"I do not like him!"

Kurama, Kori, Yusuke, and Kuwabara all stared up at the ceiling in confusion. The same thought was running through their heads: _'Where did that come from? And who doesn't she like?'_

Kori and Kurama looked between each other, and then toward Yusuke. Said half demon caught their glances and instantly put a stop to any scheme they might have had. "Oh no, I went up there the last time and was uncomfortable as hell. One of _you_ two go up there." Kurama suggested that Kori went.

"Are you kidding? The last person she would want to talk to would be her older brother…at least about a boy whom she _doesn't_ like." Kori had said "doesn't" with a sarcastic tone, indicating that he knew his sister was in denial about liking a guy. "You are the only one Kurama…" Kori said with a smile (that he was trying to hide) on his face and shook his head. Kurama sighed and stood to go and take care of the issue at hand. He was about halfway up the stairs when the TV turned on and Koenma's face appeared on the screen.

"Boys, get Kimiko and come to my office…there is someone I want you all to meet." The TV turned off and Kurama proceeded up the stairs to retrieve Kimiko, thankful that the issue of sorting out feelings had been put off...at least a little while.

* * *

_*I couldn't resist having Sen call him that XD I hope you all enjoyed this part. Okay, as far as I can tell this is the last filler...or at least for a little while. The actual plot is starting to come together._

_Are there feelings between Hiei and Kimiko, or is it just one-sided at this point? Find out next time on _Tamer of the Dragon_._

_Next time on _Tamer of the Dragon_, Kimiko gets her new teacher Kiara (that I think will now be named Kara) and starts her elemental training. Many things will be learned, and others relearned, but the training will not be easy...especially with a trainer like Kara. Anyway, tune in next time for _Tamer of the Dragon! _(Okay so I completely just sounded like the ending for Yu Yu Hakusho XDDDD...bare with me...please.)_

_I have finals coming up in the near future so I might not be able to update for about two weeks or so...unless you guys let me know how much you -really- want me to update ;) I really enjoy writing this story, but I know for a fact that there are a lot more people reading this story than there are people reviewing. So please please please review; it helps me keep wanting to write this story._


	15. 14 Meeting Kara

Kurama came up the stairs and told me that Koenma wanted us to meet someone. I nodded and had him leave so I could change. I walked out of my room a minute or two later completely changed and headed down the stairs to meet up with the boys so we could venture to Koenma's office. When we got there, we saw Koenma sitting at his desk grinding his teeth against his pacifier. Once he saw us, he scolded us. "How long does it take for you guys to get here? Our guest has been waiting for a while to meet you all!"

"Calm down Binky Breath, we're all here now, so what does it matter?" Yusuke said bored and slightly aggravated at the unusually irritated prince. A feminine chuckle coming from the other side of the room drew the group's attention, and I turned to see a female standing against the door, arms crossed and a smile of her face that clearly showed how amused she was.

"I think that one has you pinned down to a tee Koenma," she said with a laugh. I took in her features as she advanced toward us. It seemed that her color theme was blue: She had blue mid length hair with a few black lowlights accenting her hair, and her hair was in a ponytail in the back but she still had a considerable amount of hair in the front. Her eyes were almost a turquoise blue in color, and she had the same color eye shadow accenting her eyes. Her skin was tan compared to mine. Her shirt was an off the shoulder (but there were spaghetti straps on her shoulders as well) style that had mid length sleeves that tied. The shirt was semi sheer and was a turquoise in color as well. The bottoms she wore were a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that showed her curves well; her shoes were a pair of blue, high heeled boots that were about four inches high.*

She laughed again as Koenma glowered at her. She turned toward the boys and me with a small smile. She looked directly at me and said, "You must me the elemental I'm here to train; my name is Kara." I looked at her in amazed confusion, wondering how she knew what I was. She chuckled at my facial expression. "I could tell that you were the elemental because you were the only female." I looked confused again. "Elementals are only female. Don't get me wrong, there can be guys who can control one or two elements, but an elemental (someone who can control all the elements) can only be female." When I still looked confused she shook her head and told me she would explain it to me more in detail later. She turned toward Koenma following that and asked when she could start training me.

"Whenever you want tomorrow is fine; she has just recently finished training with the boys for today and you can completely take over tomorrow."

"Hm." She looked thoughtfully at me and then toward Koenma. "How far along did you say she was?"

"I have nearly mastered water, I am working on wind and earth, and I can now create fireballs at will instead of creating them from the hilt of the fire whip," I answered for Koenma dryly. I didn't really care for how she was talking about me as if I were not around. She smiled at me with amusement. I narrowed my eyes at her as she continued to smile.

"Very well, we shall begin training first thing tomorrow morning." I almost sighed, there went the idea that I might have been able to sleep in a bit; instead I nodded and turned to Koenma, asking for a portal to return home. Koenma threw a curious look my way, but said nothing as he summoned a portal. I instantly was walking through it and back home, climbing the stairs when I got to them and closed the door behind me.

Sen was lying on my bed and lifted her head when I entered the room. _"What's the matter with you?"_

"I won't get a break with the new trainer like I didn't with the boys. I have to get up early tomorrow morning so I can go and work on mastering the elements." I plopped down on the bed with a lingering sigh. "What fun this is going to be." I finished with a roll of my eyes.

…

Kara chuckled after Kimiko had left via portal and turned toward Koenma. "I don't think she likes me." There was amusement clear in her voice as she spoke. Koenma sighed a little and said that Kimiko would just have to deal with it. Kara then turned to the others in the room and raised an eyebrow. "And who are you all? I could instantly tell who the elemental was, but none of you are as easily identifiable." Koenma introduced each boy and then slumped in his chair, telling the boys that they could leave and summoned a portal for them to leave. Kori, however, stayed.

"Sir, I need to speak with you."

"Go back to the house and I will call you back when I am able," Koenma said waving Kori off.

"Koenma, I will not leave until I speak with you; it's about my parents." Koenma sighed and allowed Kori to sit and told Kara that he would talk to her later. An amused smile played across her lips as she left the room. Koenma turned toward the ice apparition with a sigh and asked what it was the boy wanted. "Sir, I wish to start the search you promised you would allow me to do." Koenma sat back in his chair in surprise; he had not expected the boy to want to leave yet.

"Kori, why have you suddenly decided to go and search for your parents _now_?" The young prince wanted to know.

"I have reason to believe that my parents are in the Makai and are somewhere that I can easily get to. I wish to go and search for them as soon as possible, lest they change locations." Koenma asked how soon was as soon as possible. "Tomorrow morning Sir."

Koenma looked thoughtful for a while. "Are you sure you want to leave Kimiko alone here and start looking for your parents alone?"

"Sir, out of anyone that I could possibly leave Kimiko with, I trust the Spirit Detectives the most, especially Yusuke and Kurama; they seem to treat Kimiko as I would and I have no doubt that Kuwabara would protect her if there was ever a need, even Hiei would protect her I am sure." Koenma raised an eyebrow at the mention of the small fire demon and asked why Kori thought that about the fire oni. A small smile played across Kori's lips as he spoke. "I see how hard he is on her, wanting to push her to her limit to improve her abilities. I also see how he is when someone else is training her when he is around: He is alert and looking for a flaw from Kimiko, wanting to improve her as much as he can." Kori had a large, amused smirk on as he finished with, "He may seem like a hard ass, but I know that that has to be a façade and he really does care for Kimiko, as well as everyone else." Koenma's mouth had dropped open and his binky was threatening to drop out of his mouth.

"Well," Koenma said clearing his throat after a full minute of staring at Kori in the same shocked expression. "I am surprised you would say that about Hiei with what I have heard about how the two of you have treated each other in the past, though I am glad to hear that your attitude toward Hiei has changed." Kori nodded and explained that the only reason he acted as he had was because Hiei had treated his sister so poorly. Koenma nodded in understanding. "Then I suppose that I should arrange for your journey and allow you to do so, though I will not be the person to tell Kimiko." Kori chuckled and assured Koenma that Kori himself would be the one to tell Kimiko.

…

'_I was again running through the woods (that I now recognized as the woods around the house I was currently living in) and was again searching for something. I chose a different route than I had when I had first time I had had this dream. I found the object of my search not too long afterward and came to stop in front of a field. In the field I saw a woman with long ruby-tinted black hair and ruby bangs. With the woman was a small child, a little boy, who was laughing and giggling as he ran around the woman, who was laughing as well. The child ran to the woman, and she swung the child up and rested him upon her hip. The boy giggled again and the two of them looked into the trees lining the field. I looked as well and saw a dark shape in the trees. I moved closer to the woman and child and saw that the shape in the trees was actually a person and that person was…Hiei?_

'_Hiei jumped down from the tree and walked casually up to the woman and child, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he walked. Once he reached the duo, however, he removed his hands from his pockets, and my eyes widened as he offered them out to the child in a sign of willingness to hold the child. The little boy giggled and lunged toward Hiei. The woman almost dropped the child but Hiei instantly caught him and placed the child on his hip. I took a closer look at the woman and saw with shock that it was me, only older. I put two and two together and gasped when I realized that Hiei and I were together and had a _child!_ Hiei instantly turned his head and attention in my direction and narrowed his eyes._

'"_What is it Babe?" the older me asked. Hiei shook his head slightly and said that he thought he had heard someone, but when he had looked, he hadn't seen anything. The older me smiled and said teasingly, "You must be losing your mind…it was bound to happen." She finished with a playful smile and the little boy (who looked to be around the age of three years at most if I were to have guessed) giggled. Hiei scowled, but there was a softness in his expression that was not there as I knew him outside of these dreams. Hiei smirked and set his son down (to which the boy pouted). Hiei and the older me shared a glance before the older me grinned and said teasingly to the child, "I think you made Daddy mad Hiro. You better run before the tickle monster comes and makes you sorry that you did." Hiei scooped the boy up and held him in an upside down superman position. "Too late! Here comes the tickle monster!" The boy started squealing and giggling, trying to escape Hiei's clutches as both Hiei and the older me started tickling the boy all over.'_

I jolted awake and looked around my room. It was early morning and the sun was just starting to make the horizon gain color. I sighed and was about to snuggle back under the covers to go back to sleep when I heard my door creak open. I turned my attention toward my door and saw Kori's head peek inside. "Oh, you're awake," he whispered as he eased his way inside and closed the door behind him. "Did I wake you?" I shook my head and he sighed in relieve. "Good." I asked Kori why he was in my room. He sighed and said, "I'm here because I'm going to be leaving to go and look for Mom and Dad." I opened my mouth to say that I wanted to go with him but he shook his head. "Kimi, I know that you want to come with me, but you can't; you have to stay here and get trained to rest of the way. I will find Mom and Dad and bring them back. I trust the Spirit Detectives; I know at first I didn't, but now that I know them, I do…which is why I am willing to make you stay here with them. Please behave while I'm gone." The latter part he said amused. He ruffled my already messy hair and said that he would be back as soon as he could. I nodded solemnly as I watched him leave, willing the few tears that had wanted to slip out back.

I knew I couldn't get back to sleep after that so I decided to forego even trying and got out of bed and got ready for the training that was to come. I showered but stayed in the tank top and basketball shorts that I was wearing and walked downstairs. The first person I saw when I got downstairs was Hiei, who was sitting on the window seat and turned to see who had been coming down the stairs. When my eyes met his, I felt butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach as memories from the dream that I had just had came flooding back. I pushed all those types of thoughts away and walked into the kitchen, mentally reprimanding myself for even thinking of those dreams, that they were nothing but that: dreams…and nothing more. However, I couldn't shake off the feelings that had just been stirred up within me.

…

Hiei's eyebrows flew up in shock as he listened to the onna talk to herself in her mind…more like scold herself. Hiei had no idea she had felt that way about him, but now that he did, he would be sure to stay clear of her. Who would want someone as annoying as the onna trailing after you like a love-sick puppy as many other females had done to Hiei in the past? And yet, the onna seemed to want nothing to do with the fire demon at the same time, and to that Hiei was baffled. Hiei turned around to look out the window again, but he still heard the onna getting breakfast made in the kitchen. In his mind's eye, he saw the onna walking around and gathering ingredients for the food she was about to fix. Hiei realized what he was doing and instantly blocked the sounds being caused by the onna from his hearing, frowning as he stared intently out the window. He wondered why he was suddenly so focused on what the onna was doing; it baffled him, and that was a feeling Hiei did not like to feel.

…

I fixed omelets for everyone, seeing as how Kurama wasn't up yet and I was hungry. I finished one omelet and poked my head into the living room and saw that Hiei was still the only one up. I shrugged and called out to him. "Hey Hiei, you want an omelet?" The only response that I received was "Hn" and I sighed because of it. "Is that a yes or no Hiei?" He turned to look at me, eyes narrowed slightly. I rolled mine and walked back into the kitchen calling out, "If you change your mind, it'll be in the oven." I quickly finished all the other omelets for the rest of the boys (making sure to load lots of ingredients into Yusuke's and Kuwabara's), and then I made mine. I sat down, ate it, and cleaned up my mess. As I was cleaning, Kurama walked into the kitchen. He looked surprised to find me in the kitchen this early; I didn't blame him. It was only about six or seven in the morning, and normally I would still be sleeping.

"Good morning Kimiko. Is there a reason you are up so early?" I replied that I couldn't sleep and got hungry so I had come down here to fix breakfast. "Well thank you, that saves me some time." We shared a smile (mine smaller than his) and I told him where the omelets were and turned back to finish cleaning up while he grabbed out the two smaller omelets and set them down on the table.

"If you did that for Hiei, I don't think he wants to eat; I already offered." Kurama smiled and said that he would give trying to get Hiei to eat a try. I shrugged and straightened up the rest of the kitchen. I almost glared when Hiei walked in a short time later with Kurama. I walked out and said curtly, "Enjoy your food," as I left. I didn't see the confused look Kurama had sent my way. I walked up to my room again and changed into the robe Monk Miatsu had given to me and walked back downstairs, Sen right behind me. I looked at her as we walked down the stairs. "You coming to watch me train?"

"_No, I'm coming to watch you get angry at your teacher and fail your training for the day,"_ Sen said, a snicker clear in her voice.

I stopped walking and turned to look at her appalled, "Gee, think you could be any more condescending? I feel the love." I finished with a roll of my eyes and continued down the rest of the stairs. When I reached the ground floor, I saw that Kurama had stood from his seat and was looking at me in a confused manner around the corner of the kitchen entrance. I shook my head, dismissing the matter. Kurama nodded uncertainly and walked back into the kitchen to finish his food. I was not going to explain what had actually been happening; they would think I was crazier than I actually was. I could see it now, _"I was talking to my wolf, who can actually speak, but I'm the only one who can hear her."_ Yeah, that wouldn't make them think I was insane. I mentally rolled my eyes at my thoughts and walked toward the couch to sit down. Right as I sat down, Koenma's face appeared on the screen and I almost groaned. "Oh good, you are awake Kimiko. Kara is here and she wishes to begin your training at once." I sighed and stood then walked through the portal that appeared.

* * *

_* If you want to see what she looks like, go to my profile and click the link that says "Tamer of the Dragon pics" and it will take you there. The drawings are mine._

_Also, if you all could be so kind and go to my profile and vote on the poll listed there. I want to write another story seeing as how I'm doing so well with this one, and I want to know which of the listed stories (descriptions are on my profile) you all want to read. Please and thank you! :) _

_~JacesVampiress_


	16. 15 Let the Games Begin

I walked through the portal and appeared inside Koenma's office. Next to the side door, Kara was waiting for me. She pushed herself away from the doorframe and walked toward me. "You ready to start your training?" I nodded and followed her out of the room and into another room a while down the hall. Once we arrived, I looked around the room and noticed that it was a room that was complete with all the elements that I would need to train with: an earthen floor, plenty of room to work in and around, and a small pond near the edge of the room on the opposite side of the door. She then led me inside and told me to sit down in the middle of the floor. I looked at her oddly when she had said that; she laughed at me. "You could sit anywhere actually, but in the middle of the floor is the easiest place." She then seemed to just notice Sen standing behind me and raised an eyebrow at her. "Since when did you acquire an animal as a companion? Koenma did not mention this when he told me about you."

I shrugged. "I received Senko when the boys defeat the woman who had kidnapped me a while ago. Senko was Ayame's accomplice before she came to our side." Kara looked at me with surprise. I shrugged it off. "May we start my training now?" She smiled amusedly but asked if I still had questions about being an Elementalist*. I refrained from sighing and sat on the ground. "Well I am curious about what you said yesterday, about Elementalists only being female."

She smiled and sat across from me. "It is a well know fact amongst demons that can control the elements that only a female can be an Elementalist. It has something to do with the gentleness of the feminine nature; about the maternal instincts and everything. The elements do not wish to be misused, so they go to the most likely sex that wouldn't use the power for destruction. Males like power and would do anything to achieve ultimate power, which is why the male population will never posses the ability to be an Elementalist." I nodded then asked why males were still able to manipulate elements. "There are still the males that are able to control one or two of the elements because the elements find the males' personalities worthy of that element." Hiei popped into my head at that moment and I stifled my laugh with a single cough.

"Sounds fitting." Kara chuckled and asked if I was talking about a single person or just in general. "Hiei is a good example of the 'personality matching the element' thing you just spoke about."

"Ah Hiei, he is the shortest of the Spirit Detectives, correct?" I nodded. "I see what you mean. Now, let's get to training shall we?" I nodded, already in a slightly better mood; maybe Kara wasn't nearly as bad as I made her out to be.

…

Hiei sneezed thrice in repetition while sitting in the window sill. He shook his head trying to rid himself of the effects of the sneezes. Kurama walked by and chuckled. "You know, there is an old wise tale that says that whenever you sneeze three times in a row, someone is talking about you." Kurama's tone was amused, but there was an underlying tone of knowledge, which didn't surprise the fire demon; the fox knew about many things, most of which others did not know, and Hiei appeared to be no exception to that…though it did make Hiei wonder what it was that the fox knew that Hiei did not.

…

Kara asked me how I had been trained on controlling the elements. "I was trained in earth, air, water, and then fire."

Kara shook her head. "You shouldn't learn the elements in that order. It should be air, water, earth, and then fire. I will train you in that order, understand?" I nodded. "Good. Now, let's work on your wind control, shall we?"

She then proceeded to have me work on flying by molding the wind around my body. She also had me defend myself from her attacks while in midair. We did this for the next few hours until lunch time. We took a break (she came to the house with me and ate with us) and ate what Kurama had fixed, which was yummy as usual.

"So, Kara was it?" Kara nodded toward Yusuke who had been the one to speak. "How long have you been training to control your powers?" She gave a small chuckle as she replied that she had been at it almost all her life before she took another bite.

Yusuke opened his mouth to ask how old she was but Kara beat him to speaking, "Surely you were not about to ask a woman like myself how old she is? That is one of the questions that a man should never ask a woman that he has no intentions of being intimate with." Yusuke then proceeded to snap his mouth shut. I held back a laugh as I looked at Yusuke's face by taking a sip of my drink. Kara sent a glance my way and gave me a quick wink as well. That didn't help me with trying to control my laughter; I had to cover up my laughter with a few coughs. Kurama smiled in an amused way as he glanced between Kara and me.

Kara and I went back to training shortly after that and worked on my water manipulation skills; she had said that my wind manipulation skills were coming along nicely and I would be fine if I just continued to work with and improve on my own time. She did say that we would work on trying to mold my body into the elements later on; I was slightly excited to hear that.

"Alright Kimiko, I'm going to teach you how to manipulate the water in the air around you so you do not have to always be around a body of water like you do at the current time. But in order to do that, you are going to have to learn how to find the water in the air around you first." She brought me over to the edge of the water and started explaining a few things to me. "Did you know that there is water in the air that is around us?" I nodded and told her that I had learned that fact in science a while ago. "Good, that saves me some explaining." She proceeded to tell me that I needed to always remember that fact whenever I was not around any bodies of water. "You can pull the water out of the air and use that to attack. The problem with this technique is that you have to grab and control particles of water that are dispersed around you, not water that has already been gathered into a body on land. This technique may take a while to learn and get the hang of it, or you may get it on the first try; it all depends on how much She-Water cares for you."

"Oh, I think she really likes me," I said in a dry tone. Kara raised an eyebrow at my statement and tone. "When I was training with Monk Miatsu, I was told I had to actually be in the water to manipulate it. I did so and it turned out great (or so said Monk Miatsu), but when I had tried to get out of the stream and get dried off, I was tugged backwards and back into the stream. That happened to me about three times, and each time I went underwater because of the depth of the stream, which was a lot deeper than it looked. By the time I finally got out of the stream I was sopping wet." She chuckled at my story.

"That sounds like what happened to me, only I was tugged back gently and it only happened twice…it seems She-Water really does like you," Kara said amused as she looked at my face, which held very little amusement at the moment. "Well, shall we start?" I nodded and she started to explain to me how the technique worked.

"First you have to imagine the water in the air, similar to how you imagined the currents in the air the first time you started working with wind. I want you to close your eyes and do that now." I closed my eyes while taking a deep breath and began to visualize the water droplets floating in the air around me. "Now see if you can gather the water into a ball in front of you." I moved my arms away from my body before pulling them toward me as if I were gathering some marbles and pulling them in front of my body. I opened one of my eyes and saw that there were small groups of water in front of me. I then moved my hands in a circular motion, forming the ball of water about the size of a tennis ball.

"You did a good job for a first timer. The more you practice and get used to the idea, the easier it will be to collect the water and the more water you can collect." She continued to train me in the art of manipulating water until the door opened and a red head popped his head inside. "How's it coming?" I turned toward the speaker and saw that it was Kurama.

"Oh hey Kurama, what's up?"

"Well, it's dinner time and you weren't home, so I was curious as to see what you were doing."

"It's dinner already?" Kara asked surprised. Kurama nodded. "Oh dear." She turned toward me and told me that training for the day was over and that we would start at the same time tomorrow morning. I nodded and left with Kurama as we went back to the house. I went straight upstairs to change into some more comfortable clothes and then headed back down to the kitchen. We ate the dinner that was prepared for us. During dinner I had glanced once at Hiei to wonder what was under that bandana of his, seeing as how no one had told me. His eyes had darted in my direction and I quickly looked away, hoping that he hadn't heard me or seen me. However, the glare that I felt coming from him in my direction was enough evidence for me that he had heard and seen me. I mentally sighed, were my thoughts ever safe from being heard? Was there any place that I could go that would allow my thoughts to be heard by _only_ me?

I heard Hiei scoff quietly from where he sat on the other side of Kurama. The red head turned to give the fire demon an inquiring look, to which Hiei just brushed off and continued to eat in silence. I finished eating quickly and decided that I wanted to be on my own for a little, so I walked out and to the training area that Yusuke showed me a while ago (after cleaning my spot and dishes). But instead of stopping, I continued to walk further into the woods surrounding the house. I continued to wander around in the woods until I was sure that I was lost; I continued walking anyway. While I walked I was lost in thought, opting to let my feet carry me wherever they so desired.

'_I seriously wonder what is under that bandana of Hiei's. He never takes it off, and never even hints about removing it from his forehead. Hiei really is an irksome guy. I wonder why he's so annoying to me. I think there was only one other guy that annoyed me this much, and that was in second grade. I had a crush on this guy that I now know is a complete waste of my time…could I actually like Hiei? No, that's not possible. He's a pain in the ass, he almost never talks, he never really does anything nice for anyone, he's a horrible teacher, he's a great fighter, he's really attractive, he has beautiful eyes…wait. Why am I thinking about Hiei like that again?'_

I stopped walking and thought back to the list I had just been making about Hiei. Somehow I had switched from his bad qualities to his positive attributes. How the hell did that happen? I sighed at my scatter brained self. _'I should learn how to think of one certain thing at a time…speaking of which, I should come up with a plan to see what's underneath that bandana of Hiei's.'_ I continued to think as I walked aimlessly around in the woods. Somehow I stumbled upon a stream and sat down near the edge. While sitting there I thought about how I could possibly see what was under Hiei's bandana. Many ideas came to mind, but none seemed to work. Sneaking up behind him and running off with the bandana wouldn't work because he was faster than I was…and I doubted that I could _ever_ sneak up on Hiei. Asking him to show me _obviously _wouldn't work…been there, tried that, didn't work. Bugging him into taking the bandana off also wouldn't work because it would be likely that the only thing that would come off in that situation would be my head. I sighed, about to give up, when an idea sprang into my head. Sneaking up behind him wouldn't work, but what if I snuck into his room…while he was asleep? And if that plan doesn't work and he wakes up, I could always try Plan B: discover whether or not he was actually gay. No, I still had not given up the idea that he was gay; I didn't announce it like I had the last time, nor did I really think about it, but I still wondered.

It was settled; those was the plans I was going to use, and if Plans A and B didn't work, there was always Plan C: Run out of the room and avoid Hiei as much as possible and hide behind Kurama whenever the chance was given. However, I couldn't put my plan into action just yet; I had to try at least another plan, just to be sure.

…

Kurama looked out the window with worry; Kimiko had been gone for almost two hours, and she hadn't taken her wolf with her. Kurama glanced at said wolf and noticed that it seemed a little antsy as well; it was pacing the floor and picking up its head every so often to listen and see if anything was coming toward the house. "I'm getting worried about Kimiko. She's been gone for almost two hours."

"She'll be fine, she has that wolf with her doesn't she?" was Yusuke's reply until he heard said animal whine and saw that its ears were flat against its head and its head was hanging low, as was its tail. "Oh shit," were the only other words from Yusuke's mouth as he stood and walked over to the door that Kimiko left from. "We have to find her; Kori will have our heads if we don't!"

Hiei scoffed. "Let the onna stay out there; it will do her good." Kurama narrowed his eyes toward the small fire oni. Hiei had a tendency of being rude, but that was just cruel…and it was completely not like him to be so cruel toward someone that had not something to make the jaganshi that pissed.

"Hiei, please go and find Kimiko using you Jagan; you can find her the fastest, as well as get to her the fastest." Hiei was about to say that he was going to pass, but Kurama added in a deadly calm tone, "If you do not go and retrieve her, Koenma will be highly upset and is likely to do something rash." Hiei scoffed but stood anyway and walked outside to retrieve the stupid onna who got lost.

…

I had just come to my decision and stood to leave, but reality sunk in and I realized that I was lost and had no idea how to get back. _'Great…I pulled a Yusuke.'_ I sighed and sat back down, looking around me for any clue to hint the way I should go. Finding nothing, I heaved a helpless sigh. I'd just have to wait for one of the boys to find me. I just hoped that they would find me soon; I was tired and wanted to sleep. I was just about to find a nice place to sleep for the night when I heard a branch rustle above my head. I looked up and almost screamed when a black blur landed in front of me. "Hiei," I said on a sigh of relief as I noticed that the blur was my comrade.

"We are not comrades Onna. Now follow me before I change my mind." I narrowed my eyes at him and he returned the favor two fold. I shifted uncomfortably and sighed, telling Hiei to lead the way. He took off at once and I struggled to keep up at first.

"How did you find me? Was it because of what you are hiding under that bandana of yours?" His silence almost made me pout; he hadn't even dignified my question by responding. _'I will find out what's under there Hiei.'_

"_I'd like to see you try Onna."_

I smirked and stared ahead of me, following Hiei back to the house. _'Fine then, let the games begin.'_ I only received a low growl as an answer.

* * *

_* I was told by my boyfriend that and elemental is the actual element (think the bad guys from "Ghost Rider") thus someone who would control the elements would be an elementalist. I changed it just for him :P...he should feel loved._

_I'm sorry it took me so long to update this. T-T And sadly, it'll take me at least another week or two to get the next one out to you. I'm going to be gone over the weekend (which is when I mainly work on this) because a few friends, my family, and I are going to go camping for my birthday, which is this weekend :D I'll be gone all weekend so I won't be able to work on the next part then. Again, I'm sorry! :(  
_

_Also, I know i promised some action between Hiei and Kimiko here soon and I can say that there will be...within the next couple chapters XD sorry for everyone who wants the action -now-...heck I'm one of you, but it just doesn't fit right now so I have to build it up some more. Hope you all can wait a little longer for the action. :) Please? Also...I only have like...two votes on my poll...I NEED MORE VOTES...PLEASE! T-T right now it's a tie between two stories, but I won't remove the other two just yet because someone else might want one of those. please please please vote. I don't want to write a story that no one will read...and please keep up the reviews, they do make it worth my while to write this. Thanks to all of those who review every time; you really encourage me :D Anyway, I think this AN is long enough :P I hope you enjoyed the latest part of _Tamer of the Dragon_. :D  
_


	17. 16 Collide

The days that followed consisted of me trying to either annoy Hiei into showing me what was under his bandana, bugging Yusuke or Kurama about it, or trying to ask Hiei nicely to tell. None of it worked; though I had been very close in my prediction that I had made in the woods about my plans: bugging Hiei into trying to get him to let me see what was under his bandana ended with me nearly losing my head, and I would have lost my head had Kurama not saved me…thank God for that boy. The rest of the time I spend training with Kara.

She had started training me on how to mold myself into wind and water. The wind had been a little tricky for me, but I had finally gotten the hang of it. Before she had started to teach me, she had given me a bit of interesting information about molding yourself into the elements.

"If you are fighting an opponent and you mold your body into the wind, you will not notice the difference, but your opponent will think you had just transported. It is an interesting little technique, and it could become quite useful later on." I had smiled and thanked her for her wisdom and started trying to mold my body into wind. It was a little difficult to succeed to do so, but I had finally gotten it on the fourth day of training. Molding your body into the elements was difficult to explain, but I thought that Kara had come up with a pretty good explanation.

"Molding yourself into the elements is like nothing you have ever experienced or ever will experience. It allows you to truly become one with nature. It is hard to do, but it can be done with the proper training and care for your body. You will never be truly able to become one with nature if you do not take care of yourself; the Ladies do not want to be used by someone who does not know how to take care of their own body. If a person does not know how to take care of their body, how could they expect to take care of the elements? In order to mold yourself into a certain element you have to become one with the element; you must feel the way the element feels: calm and gentle for water, free and joyful for wind, strong and firm for earth, and unexpected and powerful for fire. The Ladies choose who they believe can handle becoming an elemental of them. It is essentially all up to the Ladies on whether or not you may mold yourself into the elements, though I believe you can."

Today was one of the days that Kara and I would be working on molding myself into the elements, and Kurama and Yusuke had decided that they wanted to come along and watch. (Kuwabara was still dead to the world and sawing logs while Hiei simply glanced at Kurama when he had offered and glanced toward me, glared discreetly, and looked back out the window; my thoughts had been _'What a jackass'_ when I had seen his glare. I had felt his intense glare on the back of my head as the two boys, Sen, and I left.) I led the boys to the room where I practiced with Kara after we quickly greeted the prince. When we arrived, we discovered Kara waiting on me. "Is it all right if the boys watch? They were curious as to how I was coming along in my training." She smiled and said that they could so long as they did not distract me from my training. Yusuke and Kurama agreed before Kara and I started my training.

Kara told me that we would be having me mold my body into wind, to keep up the practice, and then we would move on to water. I was excited about working with water; I loved to be around water as it and fire were my favorite elements. Once I had finished with the molding my body into wind, we moved on to water. As we approached the small pond, I felt a light tug at my heart. I stopped in shock and a small gasp escaped my lips. Kara turned and asked why I had stopped. "I'm not sure how, but I felt a small tug on my heart just now." Kara smiled and announced that I would not have any trouble working with water. When I raised an eyebrow in question, she told me that what I had just felt was She-Water pulling me toward her, that She-Water really cared for me. I found the information interesting and smiled a bit when I thought about it. Kara then had me step into the water.

"Remember, to become an elemental of water, you must feel as the element feels: calm and gentle. Start trying to calm down your mind and body." After a pause she added, "I always find working with the element that you want to mold yourself into helps you to become more in tune with it." I nodded and started moving the water around my body and pulled a small stream of water out and manipulated it into different shapes and positions. I was having quite a bit of fun.

…

Yusuke whistled softly as he and Kurama stared at Kimiko as she had the stream of water spiral around her body and then she added another stream (so that there were two streams of water spiraling around her body). "She's gotten a lot stronger since she first got here."

Kurama nodded. "Indeed. She is constantly gaining strength and skills that guide her toward her goal of becoming an elementalist. I believe she would now be classified as a mid-B class demon."

Yusuke whistled softly again. "She sure has gotten strong." His eyes narrowed as he squinted to see what Kimiko and Kara were doing. "Either I'm seeing things, or half of Kimiko's body is water."

Kurama looked to where the females were and narrowed his eyes as well. "It seems that Kimiko is faring better with water than she was with wind." Yusuke nodded in agreement. A few seconds later, everything but Kimiko's head was water.

"Damn…that girl is getting to be really strong." Yusuke glanced at Kurama and gently elbowed his comrade, "We should watch out and keep to her good side." Kurama chuckled and turned back to watch as Kimiko's entire body became water and she disappeared, falling into the pond.

…

I stayed under the water for a while before I decided that I had spent enough time under there and I surfaced, becoming myself again (instead of water). When I surfaced Kara congratulated me. "Good job Kimiko. You were able to completely mold yourself into water of the first day; not many elementalists could say that." I smiled at the praise and then I got out of the pond (with a little resistance from She-Water).

"Perhaps it's best that we take a break now for lunch," Kurama suggested as he and Yusuke walked up to Kara and me. Kara agreed and we all walked back to Koenma's office where we were given a portal to return home. Kurama set to work on cooking the lunch while I went upstairs to wash off my face and freshen up a bit. I returned downstairs a short time later to find that lunch was being served and everyone was gathered around the table. I quickly joined everyone and we ate our meal with some minor chatting here and there.

I trained with Kara after lunch as well; we finished working on molding my body into water and wind and then she was teaching me how to make weapons out of the elements, something I found highly interesting. Actually, I found most of the things I was learning about being an elementalist interesting.

After training and dinner, everyone was gathered around in the living room (Kara declined our offer to stay with us) and we were doing our own things. Yusuke and Kuwabara were playing Gin (Yusuke was winning like usual), Kurama was reading, I was thinking (and/or silently communicating with Hiei) and asking him repeatedly what was under his bandana, and Hiei was trying to ignore me and look out the window; but let's face it, I'm very hard to ignore when I want to be heard.

'_Hiei, what's under that bandana of yours? You never take it off, nor do you show any signs of taking it off. Why is that? And how were you able to find me so quickly when I was in the woods the other day?'_ My thoughts continued along those lines for quite some time; I never stopped talking. I figured that if I annoyed Hiei enough he would either A) get too tired of trying to keep the secret and tell me or B) he'd try to cut off my head again. The latter option of his was why I was seated directly next to Kurama. I figured the red head would save, and if he didn't, he would get in the cross fires and be forced to stop anything that would come our way. Either way, I was safe.

Shortly a very annoyed voice spoke in my head. _"Onna, shut the hell up before I chop off your head."_

'_Oh now Hiei, you and I both know that you can't do that. For one reason Kurama would stop you if not for me then for himself and two…Koenma would kill _you_.'_ I heard a low growl in my head and I stifled a laugh. I felt eyes on me and turned to see Kurama had stopped reading and was looking at me curiously.

"Oh, I just had a funny thought is all; no need to worry." I then hid a smile.

Kurama glanced up toward Hiei and understanding crossed his features a moment later. Kurama then leaned in to whisper in my ear, "I would suggest against getting Hiei angry at you. I can protect you now, but I can't protect you while you sleep." I snapped my head in the red head's direction, my eyes wide.

"He wouldn't…"

Kurama looked thoughtful for a moment then said in a light tone, "If he was mad enough at someone, I think he would." I stared at Kurama shocked. His tone was so nonchalant and light, there was no way he could be telling the truth…could there?

"_I would listen to the fox if I were you Onna."_ My head snapped over to Hiei where he was sitting on the windowsill with one leg propped up and the other laying bent around the first, his arms were resting on the leg that was propped up and a glare was pointed heatedly in my direction. I repressed a gulp as I stared at him. It should be illegal for him to sit like that. He looked really…what's the word? Tempting? Attractive? Enticing? One of those. His glare seemed to lessen the slightest bit at that moment, but then it doubled back with full force and then some. I looked away and mumbled that I was going to head to bed. Kurama nodded, and as I started to walk up the stairs Yusuke and Kuwabara said their goodnights too.

I walked into my room to find Sen on my bed completely stretched out and relaxed. "Well I hope you're comfortable." My tone was dry as I stared at my wolf.

"_I am, thanks for asking."_ I made a noise of irritability and she looked up at me curiously. _"What? I was only joking."_ I sighed and walked over to my bed and sat down.

"Remember that plan I told you about?" Sen nodded asking, _"The one about removing Hiei's bandana?"_

"One and the same; it's time it put it into action…tonight."

~x~

The house was quiet by the time that I decided that it would be a good time to put my plan into action. The time was about midnight when I snuck out of my room and tip-toed to Hiei's room. I quickly glanced in the hall and gently grabbed the handle to Hiei's door and turned it slowly as to avoid making any sound. I eased it open and froze when a quiet creak was heard. After waiting a few seconds and hearing nothing, I eased the door open a little further and slid through the opening, quickly but quietly closing the door behind me. I blinked to allow my eyes to adjust to the lighting in the room (which wasn't all that different from the rest of the house) and glided my way to the left side of Hiei's bed. As I peered down at the sleeping youkai in front of me, I bit my lip. Why did he always have to be so attractive? His features had lost all the hardness to them that they posses during the day and his mouth was parted ever so slightly, his hair in disarray around his head. I bit my lip again, this time to stop a giggle that wanted to escape from me; he just looked too cute like that. I pushed all thoughts in that liking to the side as I stared at the bandana that was still around Hiei's head. Did the guy _ever_ take it off?

I held my breath (after taking a calming breath) and reached for the bandana. My fingers glided over to the bottom of the bandana and slipped under the article and started to lift it ever so gently. Unfortunately, that was when Hiei's eyes snapped open and in the next second I was against the wall, my arms pinned to the wall behind me by Hiei's hands just below my shoulder. A glare was firmly on his face as he stared at me. I almost winced at how tightly Hiei was gripping my arms; I was sure that they were going to bruise by the morning.

"What the hell where you doing Onna?" I simply stared at him with wide eyes. He then must have noticed his loosened bandana (that hadn't come off, may I add grumpily) and then his glare increased seven fold. "Are you truly that much of a buffoon? I told you that I was not going to tell you, and now you decide to try and find out yourself." He scoffed. "Typical woman." I tried to ignore that that had more than likely been the most he had spoken to me at a single time and glared at the oni holding me to the wall…which still really hurt.

"Well, if you would have just told me what was under the damned thing, we wouldn't be in this situation. No one has told me what is under there, but I know that all of the team knows. I am just curious as to what the hell is under there because you never take it off, not even when you sleep!" My voice was a whisper, but I was shouting in a whisper. (I know that's an oxymoron, but it can be done!) His grip tightened and I gasped, wincing at the pain that was currently shooting through my body.

"Does it hurt?" My answer only was a glare. A small smirk curved his lips as he spoke coldly, "Good." All the comebacks that I had been prepared to say fled from my mind as I stared at his face. I had to say that out of all of Hiei's features, I liked his eyes the best. They are crimson with black specks here and there. They're piercing but there was a small hint of softness as an undertone in them. I kept thinking about all of his other features that I liked (his arms, his chest, his lips, ect…) and I didn't notice that his grip was slowly starting to slack. A light of opportunity went off in my head at that moment and I reached forward and grabbed his shirt, pulling him forward and toward me. I then tilted my head and pressed his lips to mine.

At first I thought he was going to push me out the window or something, but then he started applying pressure to my lips as well and I sighed in contentment. I reached my arms out and tangled my fingers in his hair. Hiei's hair was soft despite the way his hair sticking up on end like it does. I felt the vague feeling of him wrapping his arms around my waist and him pushing me against the wall; his body plastering mine to the wall. I opened my mouth to gasp for some air because I was running a little low, but the only thing I was able to get was Hiei's tongue sliding into my mouth. I moaned quietly and clenched my fingers in his air. The sudden lack of something solid behind my back made me become aware that we were staggering over to his bed. We both landed on the bed and I refrained from groaning in pain; Hiei had landed right on top of me and hadn't been using his arms to keep his weight off of me. He quickly remedied that and we continued to french kiss on his bed. After a few minutes, I couldn't take the lack of air any longer and was about to push Hiei slightly to have him get off of me, but he seemed to fly off of me and was on the opposite side of the room before I could blink. I lay on his bed panting and after a minute or two I looked at Hiei to see him standing where he had leapt away from me, but he wasn't panting or anything. If anything, he just looked a little bored. I glared at the fire demon in the corner of the room and stood, walking over to the door. As I opened the door I muttered just loud enough for him to hear, "Huh, I guess you really aren't gay." I quickly closed the door, but didn't miss the faint sound of the singe of the fire ball that hit the door right as it closed.

…

Hiei almost groaned aloud after the onna had left. He was sure that he had just encouraged the onna to like him more. He was not doing well at trying to keep the onna at a distance from him. Hiei thought back to what the onna had said just before her departure. His blood started to boil as her words echoed in his head, _"Huh, I guess you really aren't gay."_ He couldn't believe that that had been the reason behind her kissing him; hell, he couldn't believe she even kissed him, and that he kissed her back. The kiss hadn't felt like a means of trying to prove his being or not being gay; he would have to find the true reason behind the kiss. He would find out tomorrow.

…

I sighed quietly as I walked back into my room, my fingers dancing across my lips as I remembered the kiss Hiei and I had just shared moments ago. My lips tingled just at the memory and another sigh slipped through my lips again as I collapsed onto my bed. Sen stirred and looked at me questioningly. _"So, how did it go? Do you know what's under his bandana?"_

"No, I don't know. But now I know that Hiei's not gay." A dreamy sigh passed through my lips before I could stop it. A hopeless sigh shortly followed. "Okay Senko, you win: I like Hiei."

She snickered, _"I knew you did…you were just too damn stubborn to admit it."_

* * *

_So we finally had a little Hiei-Kimiko action in this part. And for those of you who have read/are reading _Heart's Starlight_ by littlemija69, I know that the kissing scene in my story and her story were very similar but...you try writing a kissing scene for Hiei that doesn't involve some kind of sneak attack and still keep him at least in character for the most part (and if I didn't, I apologize now T-T). It's very hard to do. And I know that both my character and Kerei both wanted to see what was under the bandana, but can you blame them? He really doesn't take it off all that often. And besides, in _HS_ the bandana fell off; in mine, it didn't. (I'm sorry for all of you who really don't care, I'm just trying not to get called out on it...If you want you can just skip to the next paragraph.) I know that the little snippet from Hiei's POV after the kiss was more than likely a bit OOC, but it really can't be helped too much. If someone could keep Hiei in character during and after that scene, I'd give them a mental cookie with icing...but anyway...next paragraph!_

_Okay, I'm so sorry that it took me this long to write this part, but I was attacked my the Writer's Block Fairies for a few weeks and their forces were strong. I finally broke through their defenses and was able to write this. ^-^ I am also working on my other -new- story, _Tall, Blonde, and Annoying_ featuring Draco Malfoy! XD Anyway, I will try to post the next chapter after I have this coming chapter and the chapter after that; they may be a little short because of that, but after I get ahead, I should be fine...at least I hope I will be... ^-^; The more reviews I get, the more motivation I will have to chase away those blasted Writer's Block Fairies. :P  
_


	18. 17 Beautiful Liar

I sighed as I was pulled from my restful slumber by the sound of panting, and the feel of moist, warm air puffing in a steady rhythm against my cheek. I turned to the side that the panting was coming from and peeked one eye open; Sen was breathing on my face and almost made me gag by her rank breath. "Oh God Sen, your breath really stinks! You need your teeth brushed or something!" I took a sniff of her fur and crinkled my nose. "You also need a bath."

She scurried away from me so fast that I was left in confusion as to where she went. I blinked in confusion a few times before I shrugged and started preparing for the day. First on the list was the shower. As I stripped from my clothes, movement caught my eye and I turned to see my reflection in the mirror that was in my bathroom. The sight that awaited me made me wince: I had bruises on the upper part of my arms, right under my shoulders. The bruises were bluish black in color and were the size of Hiei's hands. _'Great…just what I need.'_ I quickly took my shower and changed into a dark blue tee with sleeves that reached my elbows and a pair of yoga pants; the flats that Monk Miatsu gave me completed my training outfit for the day, and I pulled my black hair into a ponytail. I was sure that I was going to draw a few questions as to my attire (seeing as how it was summer and was pretty hot), but so long as the sleeves covered up the bruises I was fine with blowing off questions.

I slowly descended the steps and glanced to where Hiei sat in the windowsill. I stared at him discreetly as I walked from the stairs to the kitchen. Hiei shifted his eyes from what was outside the window toward me in an instant, but I doubted that I had looked away quick enough to keep him from noticing that I had been looking at him. I mentally sighed at that thought and continued into the kitchen. Kurama was fixing breakfast when I entered and turned when he heard me enter. A smile graced his lips, and he greeted me with a kind "Good morning." I reciprocated the greeting. My greeting was muttered and slightly monotone. Kurama glanced at me with concern before turning his attention back to the food in front of him. I mentally scolded myself for sounding the way I had. I was supposed to be my normal happy self, not the tone that had just slipped out. I berated myself into turning my tone into one of happiness.

Before I could do so, I looked up at the clock and gasped, getting ready to stand from my seat at the table. Kurama looked at me and gave me an inquiring look. "It's almost time for my training. I need to go!" I was starting to dash out of the room when Kurama called out for me to stop; I stopped at the doorway and glanced at him over my shoulder.

"Today is Sunday; it's your day off…and Kara called here earlier saying that she needed the day off for…personal reasons." When he had said the latter part, he had looked a little uncomfortable. Thoughts were racing through my head as to why Kara would need the day off and what reason would make Kurama uncomfortable. And then the reason hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to stop the snicker from escaping me; Kara had to be in heat, and didn't want anyone around. I couldn't blame her; I had felt the same way not too long ago. _'Speaking of that, I wonder how long it is in between…heats.'_ I heard a light grunt and looked over to see Hiei looking out the window, though his posture was a little tense. I shrugged it off and then an idea popped into my head and an evil smirk slithered across my lips.

"That means I'm free to do pretty much whatever I want today." I trailed off as Kurama (and Hiei) both turned to look at me with inquiring looks. I ignored them and called out, "Come here Senko! It's time for your well needed bath!" I heard scurrying and dashed after my run away wolf. It took me about forty-five minutes, but I finally caught Senko and dragged her into my room and into the bathroom. I quickly locked the door to the bathroom before she could get out.

…

Kurama glanced up at the ceiling as many banging were heard, as well as a few agitated shouts from Kimiko. The fox sighed and sat at the table with the rest of the team; Kimiko's chasing after her wolf had woken up Yusuke and Kuwabara, so they were now down in the kitchen for breakfast. A second after Kurama put the first bite of food into his mouth a loud, shattering crash was heard from Kimiko's room. The boys all stood, their food forgotten, and rushed up to see what was going on with Kimiko.

Kurama knocked on the door and called out to Kimiko, "Kimiko, are you all right?" A stream of colorful phrases spewed from Kimiko and all eyebrows were raised in surprise; Kimiko had never said words in their liking and in that large of a variety in such a short amount of time. The sound of water sloshing around and Kimiko muttering under her breath was heard through the closed door. "Kimiko?"

"What?" Her voice was slightly muffled when she shouted, "Senko hold still! It's just water right now! Oh, you annoying, pain in the ass of a wolf!"

"Do you…possibly need some help?" The rest of the team left to finish their food while Kurama waited to see if their comrade needed help with whatever problem that she was currently dealing with.

"Nope, I'm good!" She muttered to her wolf to stop squirming and it would be over faster. "Thanks for asking though!"

Kurama left after he gave his unsure "okay" and went back downstairs with the rest of the team. When the fox reached the end of the stairs, he saw with surprise that Hiei was not at the table but was still at the window seat. "Hiei, are you not going to eat with us?"

Hiei grumbled, "I'm not hungry Fox" before the small fire demon turned back to look out the window. Kurama looked at the three eyed demon with worry; breakfast was the one meal that he always ate. Something must have happened for him not to want to eat.

…

Senko kept moving around and kept getting me soaked. I was so soaked that I had to take off my shirt because it was weighing me down. I realized at once that that had been a mistake. Senko went still as she stared at me. Then she growled out, _"Who did that to you?"_

I sighed. "It was during training; it's nothing to worry about. Now, could I please continue with this bath? You really do need it." Sen surprisingly allowed me to wash her and even brush her teeth. By the time I was finished taking care of Senko, it was about an hour and an half after I had caught her. I opened the bathroom door and she darted out of the room and toward the stairs. I called out to the boys to not allow Sen to go outside and quickly pulled on a tank top and a jacket and then followed after Senko. I reached the bottom of the stairs to see her rubbing her face and body all over the floor. _"Have-to-get-stink-off,"_ she exclaimed as she rubbed herself all over the floor. I lost it at that moment and started crumpling to the floor in laughter.

By the time I finished laughing, I was on my back gasping for air and Yusuke and Kuwabara was standing over me each wearing a look of worry on their face. Yusuke asked me what was so damned funny after I finished regaining my breath. I shook my head and sat upright. I glanced around and found that Senko had stopped rubbing herself on the floor and was glaring at me (in her animalistic fashion); Kurama was leaning over and peaking his head out of the kitchen, confusion covering his face; Hiei looked irritated with me, though that was really nothing new. I stood up and ventured into the kitchen to get some food (seeing as how I hadn't eaten yet today).

I grabbed some food and started eating as Kurama cleaned up from this morning's breakfast. While I was eating, Kurama asked me a question. "Why are you wearing a jacket? It has got to be at least 32 Celsius* out."

"Well I was pretty cold after washing Senko, seeing as how she splashed the water all over me," I lied with a laugh. I mentally sighed as Yusuke and Kuwabara left through the back door to go and train with each other. I hoped that my lie was believed without any doubts, but it seemed that Kurama was a lot smarter than I had ever hoped in this moment.

"You should be warm by now; you have changed out of the wet clothes and have dried off. Why don't you take off that jacket? You must be burning up in it." The look I received from Kurama indicated that the last bit was not a request. I sighed, defeated, and shrugged out of my jacket. I looked away as Kurama was startled and gave a sharp intake of breath. After a few minutes of silence, Kurama finally spoke. "Who did that to you?"

"It was a training accident. I didn't want you guys to see it because I knew you'd jump to conclusions…like you are now." I said the latter part with slight annoyance clear in my voice.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would believe that this is from a _training accident_. Now I want to know who did this to you." Kurama's eyes were a fierce emerald green as he stared into my eyes, almost daring me to look away. I sighed angrily and huffed out, "And _that_ is why I wore my jacket," before I left (after putting my jacket back on) via back door.

…

Kurama sighed after the door closed behind Kimiko; he hadn't tried to jump to conclusions, but he had not liked the look of those bruises on her arms. His mind instantly jumped to protecting her from whoever hurt her. He knew for sure that those bruises were not acquired during a training exercise. Sadly, it did not look as if Kimiko would tell Kurama who gave her those bruises. The fox sighed and made as if to stand but a rustle of cloth caught his ear and the red head looked over to see the jaganshi glaring after Kimiko. Kurama opened his mouth to ask Hiei what he was doing, but the three-eyed fire demon disappeared before the fox could ask. Kurama sighed in realizing that he was now the only person inside the house and stood, starting to finish cleaning the kitchen.

…

I went outside and glanced around: Yusuke and Kuwabara had been fighting but stopped when they saw me. I walked to the edge of the woods and started running. I kept running until I was out of breath, which was for about fifteen minutes. As I was trying to regain my breath, I heard the faint sound of a babbling brook. I slowly ventured toward the sound; my eyes widened and my mouth gaped open slightly at the sight before me: there before me was a stream leading up to a gentle waterfall that deposited into a small pool. The small pool flowed over a few rocks and continued the stream. The stream and waterfall were both surrounded by trees. It was quite beautiful. I stared around me in awe. I walked over to the small pool and glanced inside. In the pool were quite a few fish. I looked at them out of curiosity; I shrugged off my jacket and took off my flats as I approached the pool. I sat down and set my feet in the pool. As my feet sank in the small pool, the fish scattered. I sighed as my feet were instantly cooled down by the cold water. I allowed my feet to cool as I looked around. This place was quite calm and peaceful. I smiled as I realized that I could train here and it would be perfect: I had water, earth, and wind wouldn't be too hard to come by here either, as well as the trees being far enough away that they wouldn't get burnt by any fire. I decided to work with water first, seeing as how I'm so close to mastering water already.

I brought out a stream of water and started changing it into different weapons: first a whip, then a sword. I then used it to lift me up off the ground and out of the pool. I let the stream of water go back into the pool and pulled the water out of my clothes. That action gave me a small ball of water about the size of my fist. I started shaping the ball of water into different shapes (like a cube, a sphere, an arrow, ect…). I soon grew bored of that and started training with earth. I knew that I needed to start improving in manipulating earth; I was doing great in water and wind, but my earth and fire skills were to be desired. I walked a little ways away from the stream and positioned my body in the earth manipulation form that Kara had taught me. I raised a fist in the air and a clump of earth was pulled out of the ground. I decided that it would be good to work on shaping earth. I forced all but a small sphere of earth (that was the size of my fist, like the last ball of water I worked with) back into the ground.

I grew bored with that as well and moved on to wind. I had the wind lift me off the ground a few inches and I floated through the air and manipulated it around me to blow at the trees a bit. I stopped working with wind about an hour later. (I had spent about an hour on each element.) While working with the elements, I did not notice the darkening sky, signifying how late it was getting. I took a deep breath and held my hand out in front of me as if I was holding a ball in it. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Heat flooded my body and I felt extreme heat coming from my hand. I opened my eyes to see a ball of fire resting on my hand. I smiled and started tossing the fireball carefully back and forth between my hands. I was doing fairly well when a splash in the pool drew my attention away from my fireball and toward the pool. Because my full attention was not on the fireball that was in my hand, I felt the fire burn my hand and yelped in pain, dropping the fire and shaking my hand. I ran over to the pool and submerged my burnt hand in the water. My eyes widened as my hand started to glow* and I felt the heat leave my burnt hand. I slowly pulled my hand out of the water after it stopped glowing and looked at my now completely healed hand in awe. I was still awestruck as I sat in the shallow pool and stared at my hand. I flexed it and sighed as I realized that it was completely healed. _'Well, that little technique could come in handy.'_ I then glanced down to my bruised arms and mused if the technique I had just acquired would heal my bruises too. I decided that it was worth a try and gathered small amount of water (enough to cover my hand) and placed one of my hands on the opposite arm. I closed my eyes and concentrated, sighing when I felt a rush of coolness soothing the minute* amount of pain that my hand laying on my bruise caused. I peeked one eye open and glanced at my arm. My hand was glowing and it seemed that the bruise was lessening. The coolness feeling left and so I lowered my hand. The bruise seemed to still be there, but it looked a _lot_ better than it had before. I switched hands and worked on my other arm. After a few minute's time, both of my arms looked better than they had when I had first arrived at this stream. I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning back and reclining against the edge of the shallow pool. The sound of the babbling brook and the faint sound of the waterfall was very soothing and I was starting to drift off to sleep.

Something with scales brushing against my leg brought me out of my sleep haze and brought my attention to the shallow pool that I was currently reclining in. A fish had apparently brushed against my leg and swam off back to the rest of the school. I smiled lightly and chuckled a little. I sat up and reached my hand into the pool and held it there for a while. A single fish swam forward slowly, seeming to inspect my hand. It settled on the top of my hand and I slowly raised my hand after forming a ball of water around it. I brought the fish (in the ball of water) out of the pool and held it out in front of me. The fish turned so that it was looking directly at me and I simply stared at the animal. A small smile graced my lips before a shriek tore from them and I dropped the fish back into the pool. A black blur had darted in front of me on the other side of the pool. My eyes widened as I noticed that the blur was Hiei.

"Don't do that! Why must you always sneak up on me like that?" He made no movements or sounds, nor did he show any signs that he even heard me; he simply stared at me across the small pool with his piercing crimson eyes. A wave of awkwardness swept over me and I shifted to the left and directed my eyes to the pool where the school of fish were starting to gather around my legs. For some reason, I was suddenly thankful that I had shaved this morning…such an odd thought to have at this time, but I brushed it off as unimportant and focused my attention on not thinking about what had recently happened between Hiei and me and gathered all my attention on the school of fish as one or two would start brushing against my legs and swimming a short distance from me then swim back. It was really quite amusing to watch.

It was so quiet and calm that I had forgotten that Hiei was there until he spoke. "Why did you lie to the fox?" Green eyes quickly rose to meet crimson as I was pulled from my happy thoughts about the fish to the memory of what had happened very recently with Kurama and me in the kitchen. I sighed and looked away from the fire oni again, but my mouth stayed closed. A faint growl of irritation drew my gaze from the trees to the irked fire apparition in front of me. I made a (poor) decision to ignore Hiei's question and ask my own instead.

"Why did you follow me? Out of anyone that I would think would follow me to this spot…you would be the very last."

The fire demon scoffed and stated, "You didn't answer my question, Onna. Now tell me, why?"

I sighed and averted my gaze from his for the third time in this short amount of time. I mumbled out, "I didn't want to cause anymore problems." He coldly demanded that I explain. I glared at him briefly from the corner of my eye before I released a sigh of defeat. "I've caused enough trouble between the two of us. I didn't want to give you another reason to possibly want to take off my head." An amused scoff was my only reply. I looked him directly in the eye and said, "I've answered your question, now you answer mine."

A small smirk played across his lips before it disappeared and he stated, "I wanted answers." His tone was nonchalant, yes serious. I withheld a sigh; only Hiei could pull off being nonchalant and serious at the same time (out of our crazy group). I asked what other answers he wanted because I knew that he wouldn't have followed me out here to ask me why I lied to Kurama. He was silent for a few moments before finally asking, "Why did you kiss me last night?"

I tensed my shoulders and redirected my gaze back to the fish that were now weaving in between my legs. "I thought what I said last night would've been enough to tell you why." My tone was a little gruff and my voice quiet. He then said something that startled me deeply.

"It didn't feel like that was the only reason." My eyes were wide as my gaze returned to meet his. At the moment my gaze met his, my face felt like it was on fire and I was sure that my face was about the color of his eyes…maybe a little lighter if I was lucky. "Pink." I looked at him confused. "Your face is only pink in color." His eyes lightened with amusement as he stated, "Now it's red." I glared at him as he looked ever so slightly amused, if only in his eyes. All amusement fell from his eyes as he again asked why I kissed him the previous night. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but he spoke up saying, "Either tell me now, or I'll find out myself."

"How?"

"I can read your mind Onna, you figure it out." I frowned at the cold and sinister tone in his voice and looked away yet again. It seemed that I couldn't meet his eyes today. I thought about the previous night, when I had kissed Hiei and butterflies started racing around in my stomach. Had I kissed Hiei for another reason? I knew that I liked him, but I had liked Kurama and I hadn't kissed him. I sighed as I realized that I seemed to like Hiei more than I had Kurama. "Hn" was all Hiei said after that and he disappeared. I then noticed that it was now growing dark and was about dusk. I blinked in surprise and glanced around. I couldn't see anything, so I closed my eyes and tried to see if I could sense Hiei anywhere near me. He was nowhere to be found. I sighed and stood, grabbing and putting on my jacket and flats. I was about to return to the house but then realized that I was yet again lost. I sighed in defeat and looked around. I closed my eyes and tried to sense any of the boys but came up with nothing. An irritated grunt slipped from my body as I sat down on the ground next to the pool. I was about to give up and just stay there for the night when a gust of wind started blowing me to my right. I stood and the wind blew harder almost pushing me over. I started walking in that direction, not knowing why I was even following the wind. I kept following the wind until I saw some light in the distance. I then took off in that direction. I sighed in relief as I reached the back door and walked inside. The smell of food hit me and I sighed quietly, thankful that it was time for dinner.

Yusuke glanced at me with wonder as I entered the house. I didn't blame him; I was wet, had mud stuck to me in random places, and looked a little out of it. "Oi! What's up with you? You missed lunch…That's like Kuwabara or me missing it. Where were you?" I smiled and said that I was training. I didn't take off my jacket because I still had bruises, even if they weren't as bad as they had been that morning.

We all finished shortly after we started and ventured into the living room while Kurama cleaned up the kitchen (I had offered but he had declined the help). Kurama called me into the kitchen a little while later. As I walked into the kitchen, no one seemed to notice that I was leaving; Yusuke and Kuwabara were too busy with their game of gin to notice and Hiei seemed to ignore me even more, if that were possible. I walked into the kitchen and noticed that the table was filled with all different types of plants. I blinked in surprise at the sight of Kurama sitting calmly behind the mass of plants on the table top. "Um…"

Kurama gave me a small smile and leaned forward. "I mean to apologize; it was not right for me to jump to conclusions as I did. And to make it up to you, I would like to treat the bruises to see if I can make them disappear faster." I thanked him but said that his doing so wasn't necessary. Kurama would not take no for an answer and had me sit next to him at the table. I removed my jacket upon request and held back a smile when Kurama stared at my arms in wonder. "How did this happen? They were far worse this morning." I explained to him what I discovered at the stream but asked him not to tell the rest of the boys. He smiled and agreed; he then proceeded to apply ointment to my arms and wrap them anyway. Once he finished, we walked back into the living room and watched Yusuke and Kuwabara play their card game.

* * *

_*90 degrees Fahrenheit_

_*Yes I know that is from Avatar: the Last Airbender, but I decided that it would be fun to mix the ideas together…so I did XD_

_* pronounced __mahy-__noot, meaning extremely small, as in size, amount, extent, or degree_

_I'm sorry it took me so long to get this one up too…T-T the writer's block fairies are still attacking, but not nearly as bad as before, which is good. And sorry if it's a bit choppy or out of character for some of the characters, i was just trying to get this thing posted to my loving fans :). But anyway, more to come! Also, I'm thinking about possibly writing a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfict...but i'm not sure (i'm getting inspiration from the fact that i'm rewatching it now XD) we'll just have to see how things go with my two stories that i'm posting right now...or at least trying to.  
_


	19. 18 Stimulus

The following few months or so passed (making it early Autumn) with little to no activity to report; Kara and I had trained in the art of manipulating the elements (mainly wind and earth, seeing as how I mastered water). I was close to mastering wind and shortly after mastering wind, I starting to work with fire some more. My bruises had healed and I stayed away from Hiei (for the sake of liking my head where it was; Hiei hadn't seemed very…thrilled…with what he had learned from me that day at the stream, so I stayed away). My strength kept growing, but unfortunately (for me) so did my fondness for Hiei. It seemed that every night I was haunted by the feeling of wanting to be near the fire oni who seemed to want nothing to do with me. The feeling of wanting to be around him grew almost unbearable, but I was thankful that I never gave in to the urge to sneak into his room again and share another kiss. It was during one such night that I was getting highly annoyed with myself, so much so that I started muttering angrily to myself.

"Oh come on Kimi, you were fine for how many years? And then one boy drops into your life and all the motivation to stay away from a relationship dissolves in the matter of how many months around him? You need to get a grip! He doesn't like you, nor will he ever like you; you're just an annoying human to him, no matter that you are now becoming one of the most powerful people on the team…not that you are part of the team anyway…Am I part of the team? I don't think so, but then again you never know. No, if I were a part of the team, I would be going on missions with them, but I'm not. Therefore, I am not a part of the team."

"_Oh would you just _shut up!_ I get it, you're not as strong willed when it comes to boys (especially Hiei) as you used to be, you're annoyed at yourself because of it, and you are not a part of the team. Now that I have just summed up what you have been muttering to yourself about for the past fifteen minutes (in ten seconds), will you go to bed?" _Senko snapped at me irritably from her spot on the other side of my bed. I looked over at my wolf appalled. _"What? It's not my fault that you seem to never stop talking or rambling to yourself. You need to get some sleep; tomorrow you're going to be working with fire for the first time in a long while. Now, _go-to-sleep_!"_ Senko commanded irritably and laid her head down on her paws and promptly fell back to sleep.

'_Annoying wolf…why did I even take her in the first place? Oh right, I felt sorry for her…and she was cute. Well, I have just learned a very important lesson about taking in cute and pitiful animals: don't do it unless you want to be annoyed to death by them later on.'_ I sighed in annoyance and snuggled into my covers turning onto my side (the side that was away from Sen), closing my eyes, and falling asleep.

~x~

The following morning I went through Koenma's office, as usual, and into the training room where Kara was waiting for me. She smiled as I approached and I sat down next to her to begin with meditation. She started having me begin the training with meditation a little while after she got off of her heat, which was about four days after I had had that chat with Hiei at the stream. We finished our meditation ritual and moved on to the manipulation of earth. After a while of working with earth, she had me take a break from earth and work on water and wind (as refreshers and to keep up the skills).

I trained like that until lunch. We sent separate ways for lunch; she had said that she had a special lunch prepared for her and she wanted to enjoy it in silence. I chuckled and agreed that if she were to eat at the house with the team and me, there would be no such thing as silence. My lunch break was fast as I wanted to get back to training and learn how to manipulate fire.

When I had returned, Kara instructed me to get into a calm state of mind. After my mind was calm, she instructed me to concentrate on creating my fire whip. I did so, focusing on the hilt to not burn my hand, and held it relaxed after I had created it. "Very good Kimiko; now I want you to start imagining a weapon—it doesn't matter what weapon—and will the fire to take that shape, like you did with the other elements." I nodded and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. I imagined a sword (swords were my favorite weapon so far) and willed the flame to mold into that shape. I peeked my eyes open only to see my fire whip fall to the ground. My eyes narrowed in irritation at the fallen fire in front of me. "It's all right Kimiko, She-Fire doesn't care for many people; most elementals aren't able to fully control fire because of that. Actually, I think there's only been one person who could control fire completely." I asked Kara who it was. She smiled and said that I would have to find out later. We continued training with fire until it was time for dinner.

We ate like usual: Yusuke and Kuwabara pigging out and having an eating contest, me looking as if I had lost my appetite when I had stupidly looked at the two boys, Kurama sighing at the two buffoons, and Hiei being silent and ignoring us as he quickly finished his food. Yup, everything was normal until after dinner; that was when Koenma's face appeared on the television screen.

"Team, I have a mission for you." I made a motion as to leave the room, but Koenma's voice made me stop in my tracks. "Kimiko, you will be needed for this mission too." I looked at Koenma confused as all five of us went through the portal and into Koenma's office. We all made ourselves comfortable: I sat on the couch between Kurama and Kuwabara, Yusuke stood next to us against the wall, and Hiei claimed his spot against the wall a little ways away from the rest of the group. Once we were all situated, Koenma started explaining the mission.

"I have a mission that will take place tomorrow morning; the mission is simple: retrieve a stolen artifact and return it to the rightful owner. Kimiko, Kara has already been notified of your absence for tomorrow's training session. The reason why you are going Kimiko is to help the boys if they need it. It shouldn't be too difficult of a mission, but the boys might need some help as there might be an army of demons surrounding the castle where the thief is residing. Is that all right with you, Kimiko?" I nodded, smiling.

"Good. Now on to the information you all will need for your mission. You will be retrieving a stolen artifact and returning it to its owner. The person who stole this artifact is well known as the 'Dragon Thief.' The reason behind the name is not known to any of my sources, but we know that the thief is powerful, and that he is likely to have an army helping him and backing him up. You will get the artifact, but if you manage to capture the thief as well, I would not be complaining." The team nodded. "Are there any questions?" Hiei asked if they would have to bring the thief back dead or alive; he obviously doubted that they _would_ have trouble bringing in the thief. "I would prefer if he was alive," was Koenma's only reply.

"You all are dismissed, but Kimiko I would like to stay for a short while; I would like to talk to you alone."

I gulped unintentionally. The boys left through the portal that Koenma summoned, and for a few minutes all Koenma did was stare at me; I grew highly uncomfortable. Finally, I could not take the awkwardness any longer and said, "You wanted to speak with me, Koenma, Sir?"

"Oh yes," Koenma said and cleared his throat. "I have been hearing about your improvement in your training (you are doing very well, by the way) and that got me to think about how you stand when it comes down to the team." There was a brief pause before he continued, looking very serious. "I have carefully decided that I think it would be best if you join the Spirit Detectives…or Team Urumeshi as they are sometimes called." I opened my mouth to speak but Koenma continued to speak. "I do not want an answer yet; I want you to work with the boys on tomorrow's mission, and after that mission you may make your decision. That is another reason you are going to be joining the boys for the mission tomorrow." He smiled and dismissed me, summoning a portal for me to leave.

I fell through the portal and into the house; the boys greeted me kindly and asked me what "Binky Breath," as Yusuke called him, wanted. I shook my head, dismissing the question and announced that I was headed to bed. The boys said their "good nights" as I headed up the stairs and into my room; I paused momentarily in front of Hiei's door, wondering what he was doing; I shook off such matters as unimportant and reached my room. I quickly changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed.

~x~

Try as hard as I could, sleep would not come to me that night. It irritated me to no end. Sighing, I crawled out of bed and quietly made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Rummaging through the kitchen until I found something to snack on, I thought about what I was supposed to be doing the following morning with the boys; I honestly didn't think that I was ready to go on another mission, seeing as how the last mission I went on ended with me having to get rescued by the boys. A hopeless sigh escaped from my lips as I continued to think about what was to come the following day. I knew that if I didn't turn my thoughts away from the mission in the near future, I might just possibly lose my mind.

"There is nothing _to_ lose Onna." I whirled around to find the source of the voice, even though I already knew who it was; no one else called me "onna" on the team except for a certain irritating fire demon…who at the moment was glaring at me.

I glared at the fire demon. "What is that supposed to mean?" My tone was highly irked; that boy was forever irksome.

"You know what it means Onna, and I could say the same about you." I sighed and asked him why he was even downstairs in the first place. "You woke me up with the racket you made." A faint blush dusted over my cheeks.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," I said sheepishly as I took in his tired form; his eyes had small bags under them from being woken up earlier than he wanted to be, and his voice was groggy with sleep as well. His hair was in more disarray than it usually was; it was sticking up oddly in a few places. Although I would never admit it aloud to him, I found the state he was in at the moment kind of cute. I stopped myself from allowing my eyes to widen in realizing that even if I didn't say things aloud, Hiei would still more than likely be able to hear them…as he read my thoughts a lot. Upon that realization, I started slowly backing away, more out of embarrassment than fear of his reaction. My back touched the counter before I could get too far away.

Hiei sighed, his eyes closing, and then he looked at me sharply. "Be quieter Onna; if you wake me up one more time, the fox will have one less mouth to feed." I gaped at him appalled. A tired smirk slithered across his lips before he walked back up the stairs and disappeared into the shadows.

I rolled my eyes after I heard his door quietly close behind him. "Well _that_ was encouraging." I sighed while shaking my head; had I really expected Hiei to give me a pep talk before going off onto the mission tomorrow? If I had, than I really should get my head checked out; Hiei did not give "pep talks," that was Kurama's and possibly Yusuke's department. I sighed in disappointment. Although I knew I shouldn't have expected a pep talk or encouraging word from the fire demon, it still hurt a little; we did share a kiss after all. But obviously that kiss did not matter to Hiei as he had yet to show any signs of being nice to me or caring for me; in fact, the only thing he had done was be even more rude and cruel toward me. I should just admit defeat and try to move on, even though Hiei had gotten my first kiss.

…

Hiei sighed as he sat on his bed listening to the onna's thoughts; he was her first kiss? She was willing to give away her first kiss to determine whether or not he was _gay _or not? Hiei knew that females normally made a big deal out of their first kiss, and yet the onna had given it so spontaneously.

Hiei sighed, running a hand through his hair. The onna was a large puzzle that Hiei could not figure out yet, he needed more clues if he wanted to solve it; not that he wanted to, Hiei assured himself. The onna was an open book to Hiei at times, while other times she left him confused. Hiei did not like to be confused. While silently groaning in annoyance, the small fire oni fell back onto his bed. He faintly heard the onna coming up the stairs and heading towards her room; he also could tell that the aura around her was slightly saddened. Was that because of him?

Hiei shook his head vigorously to dispel all thoughts of the onna out of his head; it, unfortunately, did not work. Hiei was about to groan aloud in annoyance but faint footsteps coming from the direction of the fox's room toward the onna made him pause in his batting himself in the head to try to dispel of thoughts of the onna to listen to what was about to happen outside of his door.

…

I sighed as quietly as I could as I walked past Hiei's door. It really sucked liking someone but knowing that you will never be with them. It was at that moment that a door down the hall opened and Kurama stepped out; his eyes awake and alert, but his hair in utter disarray. I had to bit my lip to keep from laughing. He looked over at me, blinked, and then walked up to me quietly.

"What are you doing up so late Kimiko? You should be in bed resting for the mission tomorrow."

"That's why I couldn't sleep actually."

Understanding flashed across his features and he suggested that we go downstairs and sit on the couch that way we could talk without worrying about waking anyone. I didn't bother to tell Kurama that Hiei was still likely to be awake as I followed him down to the living room and sat next to him on the couch. Upon reaching said piece of furniture, Kurama told me to go ahead and start telling me what was wrong.

I sighed and took a deep breath, preparing for the moment of weakness that was coming. "I'm…worried…about the mission tomorrow." After receiving an inquiring look from the redhead, I proceeded to explain. "I'm worried about how I would possibly be of use tomorrow. The last time I went on a mission with you guys, you all had to rescue me from Ayame because I was used as a human shield. I'm not sure I'm ready to go on a mission with you guys…" I trailed off while looking away. A quiet chuckle coming from the redhead caused me to snap my head at him and narrow my eyes in annoyance. I would have expected Hiei to laugh or possibly Yusuke, but not Kurama.

"Forgive me, but it humored me with how much you doubt your abilities. You have gained a considerable amount of strength and skill since you last went on a mission: you now know how to wield a sword, you know how to use your powers to control the elements around you to protect you and to attack your enemy, and you also know how to mold your own body into two or three of the four elements. You are a far cry from the naive elementalist you were when we all went on that last mission against the wolf demon, Ayame. You will be fine, and if you ever need any help, all of us will assist you in any way that we are able." I raised an eyebrow and asked about Hiei. Kurama chuckled before he replied, "Yes, I'm sure that even Hiei would lend you some assistance." He glanced up at the ceiling before he added, "Mind you, he would more than likely give you a hard time about it afterwards, but he would still help you nonetheless." Soft laughter from the both of us shortly followed.

After my chat with Kurama I was finally able to sleep peacefully. I woke up the next morning ready but still a little nervous about the mission ahead of me.

* * *

_I'm so, so, so sorry that I haven't been updating as much as I usually do! T-T I'm just not in a writing mood right now...a lot of things (crazy life things) going on and I've just been wiped out of most of my creativity. It's not fun. I was actually going to be taking a lot longer to update this story, but I figured that you guys have been awaiting an update for a while, and I wanted to reward my loyal fans! :D So I did. XD Anyway, I would__ -__really- appreciate some reviews. I was super happy about last update: four reviews in one chapter…that's a new record for me….I honestly think that's a little sad. But, I live with it and try to keep writing. I'll be updating my Draco story next so look out for that one (if you want to read that one) in the next few days or so. Well, I think that's about it. Ja Ne! _


	20. 19 Enter Ryumi!

I waited in the living room for the boys to come down and be ready for the mission that was about to happen. I sighed as I felt my nerves acting up while I sat at the table waiting for everyone. Kurama looked my way and sent a reassuring smile my way, which helped a little, before he went back to bringing the food to the table. I would have normally helped him, but I did not trust my arms and legs to hold my weight at the moment. I knew that I was just being ridiculous, that I would be fine, that I was a lot stronger than I had been during my first mission, but my mind doubted my ability.

Kurama placed a mug of steamy liquid in front of me before he sat down at the table along with Hiei and me (Yusuke and Kuwabara were on their way down). I glanced from my mug to Kurama with a puzzled expression etched onto my features. He smiled and quietly explained that the liquid was a calming tea that should ease away all of my tension and nerves. I gratefully thanked him as Yusuke and Kuwabara joined us at the table.

We ate our breakfast quietly as we all mentally prepared ourselves for the mission. We finished quickly and after everyone had grabbed everything they would need, Yusuke called for a portal. In the next second, we were in Koenma's office.

"I will be sending you as close as I can get you at the moment. There will be demons guarding the castle so you must defeat them before heading into the castle. Also boys, I want you all to make sure that Kimiko is watched out for as well as defeating the guarding demons. Good luck to you all." And with that he sent us via portal right outside of the castle's border.

"Out of curiosity Yusuke, what is the plan?" I asked while we walked toward the castle.

"Go in there and beat the hell outta everything that gets in the way of us getting that stolen thing back," he said as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.

"Oh right, how could I ever forget that plan?" I asked as a sweat drop rolled down the back of my head. Kurama chuckled at me as we continued walking. I sighed as the castle started to appear through the trees overhead. We drew closer and closer until we could clearly see the castle and the demons surrounding it in front of us.

A hand being placed gently on my shoulder made me visibly tense and I slowly turned to see that the hand belonged to Kurama. I relaxed a little. "Kimiko, you will be fine; we will all look out for you, but I do not believe that that would be necessary. You have gotten a lot stronger than the last mission you went on with us. You will be fine." He spoke quietly and sincerely next to my ear as he leaned over. He gave my shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze before he released my shoulder and moved to join the small group of our teammates gathered in a circle. I followed after him in the following second.

"Oh good, you two joined just in time; Kurama, you will backup Kimiko as she, Kuwabara, and myself take on the demons surrounding the castle. While we do that, Hiei will run inside and find the stolen thing and return, but if he finds the thief, he is able to engage him. After all the demons surrounding the castle have been dealt with, we will all join Hiei in the castle. Hiei, if you can, keep in mental contact with someone here so we know how to find you when we join you inside the castle." Hiei scoffed but nodded (after muttering "Like you will have the time to catch up."). Yusuke glanced at me, gave me a goofy grin, and signaled that it was time to get started.

Hiei disappeared as the rest of us ran as quickly and silently as we could toward the large horde of apparitions guarding the castle. Yusuke started us all of with a large blast from his spirit gun. That was when the fight truly started.

The apparitions that were the closest started attacking us however they could; most of them were very weak level demons so all they could do was attack us with claws, fangs, weapons, and the like. They were quickly dealt with. The remaining apparitions divided into groups and started focusing on a single person, forcing us to focus on the demons attacking us and not anyone on our team. That was how I found myself suddenly surrounded by about ten or so demons, most of they were licking their lips while looking at me.

I glared at them and focused my concentration on the wind around me and propelled myself up into the air and away from the circling demons that were now below me. I narrowed my eyes in concentration as I sought out the earthen element and created a sinkhole below me and winced a bit as the demons fell in. I heard a bit of bones cracking as I lifted a large boulder and crushed the opposing apparitions with it. I landed gently on boulder and glanced around; all of the team had already finished off the demon guards and were starting to slowly make their way toward the castle. Kurama had stopped and waited for me as I ran to catch up with them.

We entered the castle and glanced around; it was surprisingly clean for something that was owed by a demon. There was very little dirt in the castle as far as I could see, though there were quite a bit of bloodstains here and there. I grimaced at the sight of the bloodstains, but moved on with the boys as they kept walking. We stopped as the hallway split into two: one leading to the left; the other to the right. Yusuke stopped and glanced between the two passages before looking back at the rest of us. "Okay, time to contact Hiei and find out where the hell he is." Kurama nodded and closed his eyes. I stared straight ahead and sighed. I doubted that Hiei would answer me (seeing as how he had pretty much been avoiding me as of late), but I tried to reach him anyway, seeing as how he was almost always in my mind.

'_Hiei, you there?'_

I received no response, but I did suddenly feel like I was being pulled toward the left. I was about to take a step forward when Kurama spoke up, "Hiei is to the right, down a few corridors, and on the last door on the right."

~x~

Hiei glared at the woman in front of him, who was holding him at sword point…or rather, fang point; a dragon stood directly in front of Hiei growling at him, fangs bared in Hiei's direction. Hiei's eyes narrowed toward the dragon as well as the woman controlling the dragon. She chuckled when she noticed that he was glaring at her. "Really, it is your own fault you and your friends are in this predicament; if you would have just accepted my offer, we wouldn't be in this mess." Hiei continued to glare at the woman, who scoffed under his glare. "Please Jaganshi; your glare has no affect on me." Upon catching Hiei's startled expression the woman spoke again, "Yes, I know who you are: the Forbidden Child, the Jaganshi, the one who tamed the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. I know all about who you are, as well as your little friends…well, most of them." She smiled as Hiei continued to glare at her. "The girl that is with you, the elementalist, I know not. She seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was forced to join your lot…though it makes no never mind to me; they all will have to face my soldiers when they follow the directions you gave them. I don't really want to kill them, but they _did_ intrude on my plans while trying to stop me and trespass on my property, so it must be done."

"They are not nearly as weak as you think they are; they will defeat your pathetic excuses for soldiers."

"The same 'pathetic excuses for soldiers' that brought you here to me and allowed me to use you to get to the detectives? I think not." She smiled before she turned around and faced the wall of screens behind her, each screen showed a separate member of Team Urumeshi. The woman seemed to focus on Kimiko the most. "Perhaps I should spare her. After all, she does seem to have much more potential than she knows, and with the proper training I'm sure she could reach that potential…" The woman trailed off as she heard a growl and a loud thump behind her. Turning she saw that Hiei had tried to move from his place and had been rewarded with being tackled and pinned down by the dragon. "Oh Jaganshi, it really is quite useless for you to try to escape; I thought you had already learned that lesson from the last time you tried to attack me."

Hiei growled out something that vaguely resemble "Fuck you," but one could not be too sure. Hiei, however, relaxed shortly afterward and allowed his head to bang against the ground beneath his body. His only hope at the moment was that the Onna would notice the slight pull of energy that Hiei was discreetly sending to her; Hiei, however, figured that he should just accept his chances of survival as slim-to-none and simply give up and die trying to take out the woman and the blasted beast that was currently holding him down. Hiei doubted that the Onna would notice; she was about as bright as the oaf.

~x~

Yusuke said that it was time to go and we all started walking in the direction that Kurama had said. When I took a step to the right, I felt like my body was suddenly drained of energy so I slowed and turned around, coming to a stop and staring, confused, in the opposite direction—the direction I had felt the tug to my body. I glanced behind me to see that the others were still walking in the direction that Kurama had said and hadn't notice that I had stopped. I bit my lip before heading in the opposite direction of the boys and walking in the direction the tug had come from; if I didn't find anything, I would return to where the boys were I decided quickly as I ran as quietly as I could.

~x~

"Damn, are you sure this is where you heard Shorty say he was? I can't see a damned thing," Yusuke muttered irritably as the three boys tried to search the dark room they ended up at after following the directions Hiei had given to Kurama. Yusuke suddenly straightened and smiled, an idea having formed in his head. "Hey Kimiko, think you could shed a little light in here for us?" Yusuke frowned when he had turned around and did not see the short brunet. "Kimiko?" A second or two passed before a rumble was heard inside the room and the light flashed on, momentarily blinding the three boys before they all looked inside. About five dozen demons stood inside the bright room. "Well shit…" were the only words that were uttered from Yusuke's mouth after that moment.

~x~

I started down the corridors in the creepy castle warily; the halls were dark and everything was dead silent. The thought made me shudder; hopefully I would not be joining in the "dead silence." I drew in a shaky breath as I stumbled upon a small, dark, wooden door. I slowly released the breath I had unintentionally been holding and stepped up to the door and gently leaned my ear against it to see if I could hear anything.

I blinked in surprise as the voice of a woman was heard, though it was slightly muffled. I heard a quiet, but strong male voice and I knew within an instant that that was Hiei. Though as to why he was with a _woman_ I did not know; the thief was said to be a male, wasn't he? I slowly tried to push the door open quietly and was rewarded when the door eased itself open just enough for me to squeeze through without a sound. I had to suppress a grin as I slipped inside and quietly closed the door behind me. The door was blocked from the view of the room by a wall so I had to lean carefully around it to see anything. The first object that my eyes came to rest on was a wall of screens off to my left; the second object was a dragon sitting on top of something that was about my size. My eyes widened in horror as I realized that the object the dragon was sitting on was _Hiei_.

'_Oh dear Kami…'_ I saw that Hiei's head turned just the slightest as he turned to look at me.

"_Onna."_ He honestly sounded surprised to see me crouching behind the wall. I supposed I couldn't blame him; I was sure I looked quite odd.

'_How can I help?'_ He glanced up at the dragon above him then he spoke in my head again.

"_I would like this beast off me, but that would cause too much ruckus. Think you could distract the onna controlling the dragon without getting yourself killed?"_

'_Ye of little faith…'_ I silently chided Hiei as I grinned and started moving to the other side of the wall, the one closest to the wall of screens. I glanced at the woman that Hiei was talking about before quickly taking in the woman's appearance: She had long, bright purple hair that reached her lower back while part of her hair was pulled into a half ponytail; she wore all black: a black spaghetti strap tank top, black skinny jeans, black flats, and black gloves. But for a splash of color, she wore two belts resting on her hips: one resting horizontally on her hips, the other hanging diagonally across her hips. I could not see her face, as her back was turned to me, as she talked (more like taunted) Hiei. I decided now would be the perfect time to act.

I quickly and quietly moved across the floor toward the screens, using the wind in the room to propel me a bit. Once there, I sat behind them, glanced out to make sure she was still looking at Hiei, and then started ripping cords out. The sounds that had been coming from the screens (the sounds of a fight) had stopped the instant I "pulled the plug" so to speak. I continued pulling the cords out until I reached the last screen. I glanced up when I saw a shadow pass over me and screeched when I saw the woman glaring at me. I quickly found out that her eye color was a bright purple like her hair.

I stared at her as she continued to glare at me. Then she suddenly lunged at me and I acted upon reflex and shoved my hands out in front of my body and shouted, "Get away from me!" A strange heat flowed through my arms, and I snapped my head up to see that my hands were simmering a silver-like color. I looked up to see that the woman had been blown back a great deal of distance away from me. I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the cramped space and toward Hiei. The dragon started growling when I got closer, but a simple wave of my hand sent it flying away from me and off of Hiei. I grabbed Hiei's hand without stopping and flew to where I had entered the room, only to jerk to a halt upon seeing the woman standing in front of the door. "Oh shit…"

~x~

Yusuke glanced around as he finished off the last demon that had attacked him; he noticed that Kurama and Kuwabara were doing just the same. "Any ideas on where Kimiko and Hiei are?" There was a large crash and a resounding thud that echoed off the walls.

"I believe that is our answer," said Kurama as the boys all ran out of the room and toward where the sound had originated.

~x~

I gasped after the wind was knocked out of me from the force of my body hitting the wall behind me. I collapsed onto my hands and knees as I tried to regain my breath. I glanced up to see Hiei and the woman fighting and the dragon coming toward me. This was probably not going to end well…

I shakily stood and assumed a defensive stance while the dragon rushed toward me. I waved my hand and the wind blew the dragon backward. The dragon used its wings to stop its body from moving too much. I clenched my hands at my sides and quickly raised them making some stones come out of the floor as the dragon flew back toward me. I punched the air in front of me and sent the cobblestones flying toward the dragon; the dragon moved out of the way of each stone just in time to avoid getting hit by them. I glared at the dragon and glanced around wondering what I could do to not hurt the dragon, but keep it from hurting me; I was opposed to animal cruelty. My eyes found the places where the stones that I had pulled out had been and saw dirt. _'That might work.'_

I quickly pulled stones from a certain area out and started throwing them at the dragon knowing full well that the bloody animal would dodge them. I waited until the dragon was right above the patch of dirt that I had created and lowered my hands quickly, forcing the air above the dragon to push it down into the dirt. Acting quickly, I started moving my hands in a circular motion and smiled when I saw that the ground below the dragon was starting to turn into something like that of quicksand. I waited until only the head was uncovered for the time for me to stop moving my hands; the ground instantly solidified and trapped the beast within. I hurried over to where Hiei was fighting the woman, using wind to allow me to leap over the buried dragon with ease, and started collecting the water in the air around us to create a sword of water. I was about to rush in when the door behind them suddenly burst open with a shot of bright light; Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara all came running through the door in the next second. I watched as the woman was quickly apprehended and glanced toward the dragon but found that it was gone; only the mold of it remained.

Kurama held on to the woman while Yusuke retrieved the artifact. We walked out of the castle, prisoner in tow, and called for a portal. A portal was quickly sent and we all walked inside, dragging the woman behind us. Kurama handed the woman over to Koenma while Yusuke and Hiei were sent to return the artifact. As we all waited for the two boys to return, Koenma looked at the woman then looked at the rest of us. "Why did you bring a woman here? Did I not say to bring the thief?"

"That is the thief Sir." Koenma's eyes widened while the woman scoffed.

"Everyone always assumes that theft is a man's job; I wanted to prove everyone wrong." She glanced at Koenma and added quietly, "And I do believe that I did just that."

Koenma's eyes darkened slightly as he took in everything. "What is your name?"

"Ryumi."

"Ryumi, you are under arrest for many accounts of theft, for five accounts of attempted murder, and one account of mouthing off to me!"

I spoke up quietly saying, "Sir, I don't think you could arrest her for the last one." Koenma sighed and relaxed back into his chair.

"Fine then, you are under arrest for the rest of those charges. Your trail shall be held a week from now to decide the best way to deal with you. Until then, you are to stay locked up in the holding cell here." He called in an ogre to escort Ryumi to her temporary living courters. Yusuke and Hiei returned after that and we were returned home after Koenma congratulated us on a job well done.

I walked into my room and sank into my bed. _"So, how was the mission?" _Sen's tone was joking and teasing. I gave her a look that clearly said 'Shut the hell up' and she started laughing (in her wolfy way) at me. I took a pillow and tossed it at her. I heard the 'oof' that came from her as it hit her head. I laughed tiredly and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Sorry it took me forever to update this story! D: I'm still having a slight problem with writer's block fairies attacking, but I am slowly winning. :) Yay me! XD Anyway, I thought that I'd change a bit of my writing style using "~x~" to signify change in point of views/scenes with other characters and I will use an ellipse to show passing time in the same point of view…normally it will be in Kimiko's point of view that that will take place._

_What did you think of the latest update? Like it? Hate it? Love it? Let me know via message! :D You can also tell me what you think of Ryumi so far. I personally love her (but then again, I know what I'm going to be doing with her :P). Also, I really would like a few more reviews please…don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the amount of reviews I have, but I would still appreciate some more, if ya know what I mean…_

_Thanks so much for reading _Tamer of the Dragon_, it means a lot that you are sticking with my through my inconsistent updates. Thanks so much and I love you all! :D_

_~Jace'sVampiress_


	21. 20 Decisions

I sighed as Koenma called me into his office the following morning, before I would normally be getting up to get ready for training with Kara. I was sure that he was going to ask me if I wanted to join the team, but I didn't know whether I wanted to just yet. I entered his office via portal, and he looked up when I had entered.

"Ah, Kimiko, I am glad that you made it here promptly. I have a request to ask of you." I nodded and he continued, "I would like to ask you if you would care to take our latest prisoner her meals in the morning before you head over to train with Kara. Will you?"

I blinked in surprise; I had not been expecting that. "Uh…sure…I'll take give Ryumi her meals. May I ask why you want me to do this?"

Koenma sighed as he said, "I asked the ogres to do that, but they were all scared of her; it seems she's not a morning person and she tried to bite off the first ogre's head when he started making a joke about something or another." I blinked again. "That doesn't change your mind, does it?" Koenma looked a little worried as he asked the question. I reassured him that it did not make a difference and that I would take Ryumi her food. "Excellent! Go through those doors, turn right, and you'll get to the prison entrance; they'll direct you the rest of the way."

I nodded and headed off in the direction that he said and came to a stop in front of a large stone wall; it looked pretty tacky compared to the walls next to it. I raised my hand to knock, but a voice stopped me. "Who goes there?"

"Kimiko, I work for Koenma. He sent me here to give Ryumi her morning meal," I said a little unsure as the guard seemed to glare at me through the peep hole it was looking through. After a second or two, the door opened and I was allowed to walk through. I was led through a maze of passages and corridors to where Ryumi was being held and was given a platter of food…more like slop or slime. I wrinkled my nose as I walked up to the holding cell.

As I approached, Ryumi's head (which had been resting against her chest) shot up and her eyes narrowed at me. I saw that her eyes had a few bags under them, as if she hadn't slept in a while. I wouldn't blame her if she hadn't slept last night; it couldn't be too comfortable in that cell she was in. After a second her eyes widened a bit and she stopped glaring. "So Koenma sent you to give me my food, huh?"

I shrugged. "He asked, I accepted. Here is your…food." I wrinkled my nose as I spoke the last word. It was obvious to me that _this_ was not food. She must have seen my expression because she chuckled a bit

"Welcome to the life of prison: A place where all you get is a slab of something that could barely be called a mat, and slop for food." She snorted in disgust. A small bit of laughter escaped from my lips before I could stop it, but she turned and smiled at me.

"Well, I'll give you your…food…and I'll be back tomorrow." She looked at me questioningly. "Koenma only asked for me to give you your food in the morning." But then I whispered to her as she met me at the bars as I slid the food under toward her, "But if you keep trying to bite anyone else's heads off that tries to give you food, you might be able to see me more often." I finished with a wink; she laughed quietly.

"For a puppet for _Lord Koenma_, you're not too bad, Kid."

"For one, I am _no one's_ puppet, and two, I'm not a kid." She chuckled again.

"Whatever you say, Kid." I glared at her momentarily before the two of us started laughing quietly. I glanced at the clock behind me on the wall and my eyes widened.

"Sorry to leave you so soon, but I've got to go; I've gotta train. I'll see you later maybe. Bye Ryumi."

"Wait." I stopped and turned back to look at her questioningly. "What's your name?"

"Kimiko," I answered before I left.

…

All through my training with Kara, my mind was drifting back to Ryumi; she didn't seem too bad: She seemed to have a decent sense of humor and she seemed to like me…maybe? We seemed to hit it off right off the bat; it was a little odd. I normally take a while to warm up to people, but then again I had warmed up Kurama the first second I had met him. And the fact that I had been recently surrounded with no one but boys (the exception being Kara) might have helped out a bit; it had been nice to talk to another girl about something other than training or missions or anything of the like, even though all we talked about was jail and prison food, but it had still been a nice change for me.

During my lunch break I had decided to see if I could just be the one to give Ryumi her food; maybe while I was there I could find out a few things about her fighting style and things like that (at least that would be my cover story if Koenma asked me why I wanted to give her food all the time).

…

As it turned out, I hadn't needed a cover story—Koenma was going to ask if I would be willing to bring all Ryumi's food to her; it seemed that she had taken my advice. I walked down the corridors while trying to withhold a smile that had wanted to break out across my face. When I reached Ryumi, it seemed as if she was doing the same. I had given Ryumi her food and sat and talked with her a bit before I had to leave.

During my walk back to Koenma's office, my mind was filled with the conversation I just had with Ryumi. She and I had talked about nothing and everything at the same time; it was almost like I was talking to Yue* or Keiko. That thought made me sad for a short moment; I missed my two girlfriends. I hadn't seen either since I was forced to come here. I was sure that I could convince Yusuke or someone to allow Keiko to come over and everything, but I also wanted Yue, or it just wouldn't feel like a _true_ friend reunion. I sighed to myself as I entered Koenma's office.

…

I had been taking Ryumi her food for almost a week, and we had gotten pretty close during the short amount of time that we had been chatting. And the amount of time that I had been giving Ryumi her food meant that her trial was going to take place either today or tomorrow. After I had given Ryumi her food (which I had managed to get a little something from home and snuck it in for her) I asked her about how she was feeling about the trial that was to be taking place in the near future.

"I'm not too worried about what will happen. I'm sure I already know the verdict: guilty on all charges. I'm just enjoying my time alive while I can." I gaped at her while she continued to eat the apple-cinnamon muffin I had gotten for her.

"Are you serious? You're not worried about _dying_? How could you not be worried? I know that if it was me who was about to go on trial, I would be shaking in my boots, not sitting back and enjoying myself while I could…though I do suppose that that is a better way of handling things." She laughed a little at me.

"I'm not worried about what will happen because I am fine with any punishment they decide for me. If I'm killed, I'm killed. If I am tortured or whatnot, I'll be fine because I'm sure that I've dealt with a lot worse that whatever Koenma could throw at me. So whatever I'm dealt with, I'll take it like a woman and get over it. I've lived a nice life thus far. I really have no regrets…except for maybe treating my dragon the way I did."

"I just don't think that you'll be killed. But speaking of that dragon, where did it _go_? It had been encased in earth the last time I saw it, and then I looked where it had been and it was gone. What happened to it?"

She smiled. "That I might just tell you when you come back again for lunch." I shook my head at her and laughed a little when she winked at me. After she had finished her meal, I grabbed the tray and gave it back to the guards and left for training with Kara.

We worked with mainly fire that day, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get the hang of controlling fire as I was able to control the other three elements. After we had returned from our lunch break, Kara told me that come the end of this week, I would no longer be training with her. When I had asked her why, she had said that I had improved a great deal and that I would be fine improving my skills on my own.

"I do have a question for you, however. Do you seem to have any other abilities other than controlling the elements?"

I was about to say no when the memory of my hands shimmering silver after Ryumi had been blasted back away from me by some other force. "Actually I do think I have another ability other than controlling the elements. It happened to me a couple of times. When I didn't know what I was, I was able to kill a low-class demon that attacked me by something, but all I remember is a blinding white light. The other time was just the other day when I was fighting against Ryumi; I had blown her backward by something and when I looked down at my hands, there was a shimmering silver haze over them. Do you have any idea what that could be?"

"That sounds familiar, but I can't be sure. I'll see what I can find by the next time I see you. In the mean time, let's work on your control over fire, shall we?"

…

That night I walked into the jail and gave Ryumi her dinner. "You said that you would tell me what happened to your dragon when we were fighting you, will you do that now?"

She chuckled at how quickly I got to the point. "I never said that I _would_, I said that I _might_ tell you, but I supposed it wouldn't kill me to tell you. There is a reason why my name is **Ryu**mi. That dragon that you were fighting against was a dragon that I had summoned. I have three dragons in my arsenal, but sadly I can only summon one at a time. However, I was working on learning on how to summon more than one, but I suppose that I will no longer be able to do that, huh?" She gave a short laugh despite herself.

"You mean to tell me, that you can control dragons? That's _awesome_!" She laughed at me while I grinned. "So how did you get that power?"

"I was born with the ability to train animals easily, but I was never able to fully control them. My family helped me to learn how to use my ability. Then I stumbled upon a dragon during my teenage rebellion stage and everything fell into place. After a while I learned that I could actually _summon_ dragons on will, but I could only summon one at a time and only for a short amount of time. I trained and trained until I was able to summon them indefinitely, but I can still only summon one at a time."

"That is so awesome. So how and why did you become a thief?" She smiled slightly as she started telling me how she discovered a coven of thieves and how they had adopted her and taught her how to steal. She had eventually perfected the act in her own way and went off on her own. And after a few thefts, she stole the item that had her caught by the Spirit Detectives (and me). "That is such an amazing tale…I wish my life were that exciting." Then I thought about it again and corrected myself, "On second thought, maybe I'm better off with the boring life." We laughed a bit before she asked me to tell her about my life.

~x~

Kurama looked at the time and frowned; Kimiko was supposed to be back by now. The fox wondered what was keeping the small elementalist from returning home. Apparently, Kurama wasn't the only person concerned about Kimiko because at that moment Yusuke started speaking.

"Where the hell is that girl? She was supposed to be back from training about an hour or so ago!" Yusuke announced that he was going to find out what was going on when Koenma's face appeared on the television.

"Hello Detectives. I heard that you were worried about Kimiko, but there is no need for that. I asked Kimiko to give food to the thief that you all brought back, Ryumi. Kimiko is not only giving her food, but also getting some information for us. So she should be back here shortly. Bye now." And with that said, the screen went blank leaving the detectives to take in what their boss had just announced. Yusuke was the first to react.

"What? You mean to tell me that Koenma put Kimiko in the same room as that bitch that we brought back? What the hell?"

"So it seems," Kurama said with a frown.

~x~

I glanced at the time and gaped at what I saw. "It's already going on eight? Wow…"

"Perhaps it's time for you to go. Unlike me, you haven't eaten. Besides, I'll see you tomorrow morning anyway." I hesitated for a second before she said that I really did need to go, so I wished her good bye and then left to return home for dinner…or at least to find something to eat that would act as dinner.

…

The following morning I groaned as I sat up from my bed; last night had been tiring. Once I had gotten home, I had been pretty much attacked in questions by the boys. They didn't seem too keen on allowing me to stay alone with Ryumi, even though I told them that I was in no danger with her.

I sighed in agitation and started preparing for the trial and dressing in some of the nicest clothes that I owned. My training with Kara had been canceled due to the trial, but she had said that we could pick up what we missed today with our training tomorrow by not taking a break to return to the house and eat with the boys like we usually did, but we would stop for a short lunch break some time during the training. I quickly finished preparing and practically ran for the living room to the portal that came the second I stepped onto the floor. I made a mad dash to the portal leaving two confused demons in my wake wondering what the heck was making me run so fast.

I quickly got to Ryumi and gave her food to her. We sat in silence while she ate her meal. When she finished, she was the one to break the silence. "Out of curiosity, what the hell are you wearing?"

I glanced down at my female suit that I wore; pinstripe pants and jacket and a nice beige colored blouse, all of the pieces were flattering to my figure, but I didn't see what was wrong. "What do you mean?"

"You should know that brown doesn't go with black. You should wear some other color, a nice lively color, like…light purple." I started laughing a bit. "I'm serious though, brown and black don't go together. I thought all humans should know that, or at least all female humans." I laughed again and told her that I would change before I went into the court room. She smiled then said a few words that almost made me start crying. "It's been great, Kid. Even though we've only known each other for a short amount of time, I feel as close to you as I did my family. I hope you won't forget me. Take care, Kid." I heard her voice break a little as she finished.

I nodded, biting the inside of my lip to keep from allowing the tears to fall. I wanted to hug her so badly, but I refrained from doing so for fear that the annoying guards would think something was up and start attacking either one of us or even both of us. I quietly bid her farewell, after I tried to say that I still didn't think that she would be sentenced to death without crying, and walked away. After I had gotten out of the jail, I stopped and leaned against the wall for support as the tears started to fall. After a bit of leaning against the wall silently crying, I decided that it was time to head back to the house and change my shirt and then head out with the boys for the trial.

I walked into the house and started to walk up the stairs when Kurama's stopped me. "Kimiko, would you like some food before we go to the trial?"

I took a (hopefully unnoticed) calming breath before I said that I'd be there in a split second; that I just had to change my top really quick. A worried look from the redhead went unnoticed by me as I practically ran up the stairs.

I was just sighing in relief about making it to my room without anyone noticing my tearstained face when I ran into a solid body. I fell back with an 'Oof' and looked up when I heard someone mutter 'Hn.' Hiei was staring down at me with a look that resembled indifference. I silently thought that indifference was better than the recent loathing that I had seen from him. I mentally shook such thoughts away and quickly stood and walked around Hiei and into my room. Unknown to me, Hiei's eyes followed my every move until I disappeared from his sight.

…

I sighed in boredom as the trial dragged on. I had already been called up to the stands to be questioned, as had Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei; Kuwabara was at the stand at the moment. I drowned out all the sounds of the court and changed my gaze so that it rested on Ryumi where she had been placed when the trial had started. She looked completely confident and carefree, but I was sure that it was just a pretense at the moment. I heard how she sounded in the jail that morning; this had to be a façade, a very good façade, but a façade nonetheless.

I saw her eyes shift ever so slightly to where she was looking at me. She gave me a small smile, but it quickly disappeared as Koenma announced that the jury was to take a break and decide on their decision. I sighed quietly and looked down at the bench where the Spirit Detectives and I sat. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Yusuke looking at me and suggesting that we go out in the lobby for a drink or something. I nodded and stood, walking out with the Detectives, who obviously didn't care if we were to stay in our seats or not.

As we waited for court to get back in session, I gingerly sipped my drink while I thought about whether or not I wanted to be a part of the team. Koenma had stopped me before I had gone back to the house to ask me whether or not I knew my decision on whether or not I wanted to be a part of the Spirit Detectives. When I had said that I still wasn't entirely sure, Koenma had said that he wanted the answer by the end of the week. I figured that I should start thinking about my place on Team Urumeshi, or the lack there of.

I was so deep in thought about if I wanted to join the Spirit Detectives that I didn't notice that Yusuke was herding me back into the courtroom. I also didn't notice that everyone was talking and chatting about something that had just been announced. I only started to notice that something had taken place when I felt the familiar feeling of falling through the portal. Once I landed, I looked around at the house in confusion.

"When did we get here?"

Yusuke looked at me like I had three heads. "We just got here, and we just got out of the courtroom not too long ago."

I looked alert for the first time in a few hours. "What was the verdict and punishment?"

Yusuke opened his mouth to comment but a portal opening behind him made him shut his mouth and turn around to face whoever was coming through. To my surprise, Ryumi and Koenma walked through the portal. I gaped at them as Koenma unlocked Ryumi's shackles and placed the key back in his inner pocket. "Ryumi! What are you doing here?" Everyone looked at me oddly, even Hiei. I looked away from everyone's stare to look at the ground while I muttered, "What? I was distracted and preoccupied during the latter half of the trial. So, could someone please explain what is going on for me?" Kurama came through for me in the end.

"Ryumi was accused 'guilty' of the charges that Koenma had put on her, but because she had never stolen from any of the main vaults of the three realms, steal very much, nor did she actually kill us, she got off with a few months of community service of helping as an extra hand for the Spirit Detectives and a month of jail. Though the time in jail might be cut short or omitted upon good behavior during her community service."

I stared at Kurama then glanced at Ryumi and Koenma before looking back toward the redhead. "So you're telling me that Ryumi is going to be staying here, and she's not dying?" When Kurama nodded, I grinned and leapt at Ryumi, knocking her over. "I **told** you! I win!" A huge grin covered my face while Ryumi laughed at me, but I didn't notice the way that the boys frowned or glared at Ryumi while my back was facing them.

* * *

_*I changed Yumi (Kimiko's other best friend) to Yue because now that I think about it, the two characters' names (Ryumi and Yumi) are _way_ too close together and that is not good. No need to confuse people…anymore than they already could be. ^-^;_

_I'm sorry if this seemed rushed, choppy, or confusing in any way. I was kinda trying to get through this because I needed some things to happen for the next few parts. ^-^ Please tell me what you think of it via review! ;)_


	22. 21 Confessions

I had decided what my place in the Spirit Detectives would be when I had led Ryumi to her room.

'_I glanced back at the boys before we mounded the stairs to see them try to hide their looks of disproval and worry. I sighed as we walked toward Ryumi's room._

_Ryumi looked at me and asked what was wrong with me; I told her about the boys' looks. She smiled at me and said that they were probably worried about me and that she might turn against them or something._

"_But you wouldn't do that," I protested. She gave me an odd look before I explained myself. "I'm sure that you wouldn't do anything like that, if not for them, than for yourself; after all, your punishment might get shortened or omitted if you're a good little girl." I stuck my tongue out as she laughed quietly, but she didn't disagree. "Besides, boys always seem less trusting than girls; take my brother for example. I had stayed with those boys for about two or three days before my brother had arrived and I was safe and sound, but when my brother got there he was completely on guard in case anyone would attack us. I seriously wonder about how the male's mind works…but then again, I probably don't want to know." I finished off my mini monologue with a laugh that Ryumi joined._

_We entered her room and she invited me to sit on the bed and talk with her a bit. We talked for a good long while, and one of the things we talked about was what I did for the Spirit Detectives. I had told her about my dilemma. She helped me through my problem and eventually convinced me to join the team; if only so she wouldn't go insane being surrounded by guys who didn't care for her. I decided then that I would tell Koenma the following morning.'_

I walked into the living room and wasn't entirely surprised to see Kurama, Hiei, and Ryumi in there; Ryumi probably hadn't slept well last night being around people that didn't care for her. I walked up to Ryumi and plopped down next to her with a smile that she returned, though it was a little tense.

"Morning Kurama, Hiei, Ryumi." I had said Ryumi's name a little oddly, but it accomplished what it was intended to do: I saw some of the tension leave Ryumi's shoulders as she cracked a true smile. "So what are we doing today?"

"Not a clue, but you are going to finish your training with Kara today." I slapped my forehead as Kurama finished speaking.

"Oops, forgot about that…" A small, amused smile lit up Kurama's face, though he was still pretty tense; it seemed that everyone was tense this morning. I sighed at the thought. Ryumi asked if I would mind if she watched me train. I replied that I wouldn't mind and then Kurama said that he'd go as well. I almost sighed aloud.

…

The six of us walked into Koenma's office some time later; the rest of the team decided the come and watch me train after I said that Kurama, Ryumi, and I were going to go so I could train with Kara. We walked through, but I paused at the doorway and looked back at Koenma as the others passed me. "Koenma Sir?" He looked at me. "Does the offer that we talked about before still stand?" Koenma nodded while smiling. "I'd like to accept the offer Sir. And thank you." He nodded and, as we walked away, he started to fill out some paperwork.

Ryumi waited for me as I caught up to the group. "What was that about?"

I smiled while I spoke to her quietly, "Say hello to your new teammate." She grinned and put her arm on my shoulder as we walked into the training room with the boys. I glanced at Kara as she stood and looked at the group with amused surprise. "Hello Kara. Is it all right if everyone comes and watches while we train?"

"I don't mind, but the rule from last time still applies: You can watch as long as you don't distract Kimiko from her training." Everyone nodded and moved toward the benches that were on the opposite wall of where Kara and I would be training.

Kara had me work with first wind, then water, followed by earth before having me try and work with fire again. I sighed as I called my fire whip to me; I was thankful that I could that with ease now, but that was about as far as I got. When I had tried to mold the fire like I had the other elements, it would just fall, and I really didn't want that to happen in front of everyone…especially Hiei. I was sure that he would mock me for it. "All right Kimiko, concentrate. Imagine what you want the fire to become and will it to become that form. You can do it, just concentrate." I took a deep breath and sighed then looked at the whip in front of me and was just about to start willing in to change into a sword when Kara stopped me by speaking. "If you already doubt that it will happen, then it won't work. She-Fire does not like doubters." She finished with an encouraging smile which I returned. I looked at the fire in my hands and willed it to change forms will all my belief. I started to smile as the whip started straightening; however, right as it was about to truly become a sword, someone sneezed and broke my concentration. I stared at the fallen fire before I looked behind me.

Kara and I looked behind us with evil and annoyed eyes. Kuwabara blushed and apologized while Yusuke looked like he was trying not to laugh. I sighed and then the noise started. I looked up at the team to see that Yusuke was laughing his ass off while Kuwabara was yelling at Yusuke to shut up. Kurama looked embarrassed and amused. Hiei was glaring at the two buffoons while they paid him no mind. Ryumi was silently laughing to herself while looking at Yusuke and Kuwabara argue. Then when I started laughing, Kara and Ryumi (aloud now) joined in. It was shortly after then that Kara decided that it was best to take a lunch break.

~x~

Everyone went back to the house and ate lunch together. Ryumi was in between Kara and Kimiko, so she wouldn't have to worry about awkwardness during lunch. Kurama had fixed the food (as usual) and everyone was enjoying their meal. The two buffoons were relatively quiet during the meal and that allowed Hiei a break from the previous ruckus that had happened during the onna's training. Hiei had been surprised to see that Ki—the onna had progressed so far in such a short amount of time. Normally it would take years for an elementalist to even perfect one of the elements, but then the normal age of discovering their powers was a lot younger than when Kim—the onna had discovered her own power. It almost made Hiei wonder what would have happened if she had discovered her powers sooner. Hiei also then wondered about why her powers hadn't been triggered at a younger age. He would have to ask her later…when she was alone. He glanced at Ryumi and glared slightly as said female leaned over and whispered something in the onna's ear to which she blushed. Hiei mentally corrected himself: **if** she was ever alone. It was at the moment when Hiei had decided to try to slip into the onna's mind to see why she blushed when Kara had decided that it was time for the onna to go back to training.

~x~

I was still blushing at Ryumi's comment when Kara had said that it was time to go back to training. _'I didn't think my glancing was __**that**__ obvious…'_ I had been glancing at Hiei all through the meal; he had possessed such a thoughtful expression on his face that I had been wondering what it was that he could possibly be thinking when Ryumi had asked me what I had been looking at. I quickly stood up and followed after Kara hoping that Ryumi wouldn't push her question, but luck was not in my favor because no sooner had I stood up and started moving was Ryumi right on my tail repeating her question in my ear.

"What were you staring at? I know that you had to have been staring at something. Come on Kimiko, tell me." Ryumi continued to pester me about it all the way to the training room; the boys were following silently behind us. Every time she asked, I looked away and tried to ignore her, but that only resulted in her asking even more. In the end I gave in and told her I'd tell her after training. She grinned and sat down quietly, waiting for my training to be done so she could get her answer.

…

I sighed as Kara said that we were finished training. She also told me that what I had described to her earlier (the light that had shot Ryumi flying and had killed the low-class demon that had attacked me before I found out about my powers) sounded like a sort of protection power. She wasn't exactly sure how it worked, how to trigger it, or how to control it, but she had said that she would keep looking and would tell Koenma if she had found anything.

Ryumi walked with me to the house, bugging me all the way. 'I had told her that I would answer her question after training, after all.' I told her that I would tell her when we got home and were away from the boys, or at least just Hiei and Kurama (as they had the best hearing). Ryumi waited ever so impatiently for us to settle on the couch while Yusuke and Kuwabara went outside to mess around, Kurama went into the kitchen to cook dinner, and Hiei went to his usual spot: the window seat. After we had settled, Ryumi finally couldn't wait any longer.

"Okay, now what were you looking at?" I sighed and leaned in toward her and whispered that I had been looking at one of the boys (though I hadn't told her which one). "Which one?" I gave her a look that clearly stated 'Like I'm going to say that right now.' She sighed. "Well then just indicate with your eyes," she stated rolling her eyes. I bit my lip. If I did that, Hiei would see me, no doubts about it. I didn't dare risk it.

"No way." She pouted.

"Why not?" I just shook my head. She looked thoughtful for a second. "Do you like this guy that you were looking at?" I hesitated for a second before I gave a quick nod. I could almost see the gears working in her mind as she sorted through the boys.

~x~

Ryumi thought about who Kimiko could possibly like out of the four boys. Ryumi was sure that Kuwabara couldn't _possibly_ be the one Kimiko liked, so she instantly ruled him out. She was also pretty sure that she had something about Yusuke being taken, but she couldn't absolutely sure; if he was, she knew for a fact that Kimiko wouldn't even consider liking him. So that left two, possibly three. She considered where everyone had been sitting during the meal and compared that with the (possible) three remaining. Ryumi's eyes widened a fraction as she realized that there was only one person that fit that description: Hiei. "Don't tell me you like _him_…" A blush flashed across Kimiko's face as Ryumi spoke normally. Ryumi quickly noticed that and adjusted the volume on her voice. "Please tell me you don't like…" Ryumi trailed off when she saw the look on Kimiko's face: pure murder if Ryumi spoke his name. Ryumi rubbed her forehead with a questioning look. She hoped that Kimiko got the hint. She wasn't disappointed. Kimiko flushed a bright pink and gave a curt nod. "Oh my God…I can't believe it! You like _him_! Well no wonder you didn't want to say anything; I wouldn't have wanted to say anything either. So have you done anything about that?" Kimiko glared at Ryumi, which she ignored. "Well, have you?"

~x~

I sighed as I looked around the room. Hiei was studiously ignoring what Ryumi and I were saying; Kurama was quite preoccupied with finishing our food; Yusuke and Kuwabara were coming inside to clean up a bit before dinner. All in all, it didn't seem like anyone was paying attention to what was going on with the two of us. That being so, I decided that telling Ryumi what happened between Hiei and me wouldn't hurt too much. I summarized the events in one quick breath, "I had snuck into his room to find something out but ended up kissing him. Ever since then, he's been ignoring me even more so than usual…so life's pretty interesting for me right now." Ryumi stared at me with wide eyes.

~x~

Hiei stared in shock out the window; he couldn't believe that the onna was talking about him. He was the only person she had kissed to his knowledge. He had heard everything that Ryumi and the onna had been talking about, though he had acted like he was ignoring them. He had wanted to know what had made the onna blush earlier…and now that he knew, he almost wished he didn't. So she still liked Hiei…that was rather unexpected for him. He had thought that with his studiously ignoring her, she would stop liking him and move on to someone more worthwhile…like the fox. It surprised him to know that she still liked him. Hiei was brought out of his thoughts when something Ryumi said caught his ear.

"I think you should see him again. You don't have to kiss or anything, but just see him. It would be a good way to know if he likes you back."

Kimiko looked crestfallen as she listened to what Ryumi had said. "I already know how he feels about me: he hates me. I can tell by the way he looks at me—or in the case right now—doesn't look at me and ignores me. I'm sure that if I were to go in his room, he would be likely to kill me; he already tried to lop off my head when I had tried to find out what was under that blasted bandanna of his." Kimiko finished her speech very annoyed, yet still sad. Something happened in Hiei that he did not know what it was: he was overcome with the want to go and hold onto the onna; to wrap her in his arms. Hiei mentally shook his head. There was no reason for him to do such a thing. It wasn't as if he _liked_ the onna. Even as Hiei thought that, an annoying voice in the back of his head nagged at him saying that he was in denial and that he did care for the onna; Hiei instantly put an end to the voice.

~x~

Kurama called everyone in for dinner and we ate our food like usual: Yusuke and Kuwabara inhaling the food, Kurama was sighing at the two boys, Hiei was annoyed with life, Ryumi was trying to be invisible, and I was trying not to be seen as well. All in all, it was an interesting time for dinner.

* * *

_Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to update this story. :( I promise that I'm gonna try harder to make this more...regular? is that the word I'm looking for? I'm going to use it anyway._

_Anyway, Kimiko had just confessed to liking Hiei...and Hiei heard. What was it that was happening with Hiei where Kimiko is concerned? What will Kimiko choose to do concerning Hiei? Find out next time! The more reviews, the sooner it will be posted ;) (the more motivation that I will have to write the next part :P)  
_


	23. 22 Unleashed

**Part 22: Unleashed**

That night, I lied in bed mulling over what Ryumi had told me…and what I had said to her. Now that I thought about it, I wondered if Hiei had actually heard anything of what we were saying. If he had, that would be embarrassing! I sighed as sleep would not come to me.

Finally giving up on sleeping, I rolled over and looked at my door. I wondered if Hiei would be up…

'_No! Don't do that to yourself Kimiko! What you have is just a pointless crush. There are no real feelings behind it and it will fade sooner or later—hopefully more sooner than later…'_ I sighed again and got up out of bed and went into the bathroom, giving up on even tying to sleep. I stepped into the shower and started getting ready for the day ahead of me, not caring that I was getting ready a good five hours ahead of schedule. After I stepped out of the shower (and finished what I needed in the bathroom) I walked into my room and decided with a quick glance outside that I would train for a bit until a few others woke up.

I dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, walked up to Sen, and nudged her awake. She looked up at me and groggily (and annoyed) asked, _"What now?"_

"I'm gonna go and train a bit. Will you come with me? You can nap in the grass," I said with a sing-song tone. Senko exhaled dramatically and slowly stretched, climbing down from her spot next to me on the bed. I grinned as she sat down next to me and said impatiently, _"Well, aren't we going to go now?"_

…

We walked to the stream that I had found a little while ago, and I started my training with a short time of meditation; Kara had always said that it helped controlling the elements. After I had finished the meditation, it was time to work with wind. I worked with manipulating the air for a little while before moving on to water. While working with water, I had "accidentally" splashed Senko (hehehe). She had glared at me before she sighed and lay farther away from the stream. Earth was the next element that I started manipulating.

~x~

Hiei watched as the onna started working on manipulating the elements around her. She had improved quite a bit, though Hiei would never admit that aloud. What had really caught Hiei's attention was that when she tried to manipulate fire, she could make it a whip but nothing else. She had almost gotten the hang of it during her training with Kara, but now she was manipulating fire like a novice. Hiei had the sudden urge to walk up to Kimiko and show her how to manipulate fire correctly; after all, Hiei _was_ a fire demon, he would know how to do that. Despite the fact that Koenma had forbid him from doing so. The urge overpowered Hiei, and the next thing he knew, he was watching the onna look at him wide eyed and shocked.

~x~

I was trying to work with fire, but I kept having difficulties manipulating the fire into any shape other than a whip. I would almost get it to the shape that I wanted, and then the fire would fall. I glared at the fallen flames in annoyance as I summoned some water from the stream to put out the incompetent flames. I took a calming breath and was about to start trying to make a sword out of my fire when a soft _thump_ behind me and Senko growling made me turn. Standing behind me, leaning against a tree, was Hiei. I felt my eyes widen before I cooled my expression and asked him why he was here.

"Hn." I sighed as his usual response was issued. _'I should have known…'_ "Fire isn't calm, it's heated." I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Fire is attracted to heated things, being calm will not allow you to control fire."

"Oh really? And you would know how?"

Hiei rolled his eyes. "I think fire apparitions would know how to control fire better than any elementalist." I fought back a blush at his words. _'Why did that slip my mind?'_ "Because you're a baka onna." I glared at the fire youkai who was staring at me blankly. I sighed and folded my arms over my chest.

"If I'm such a 'baka onna' as you say, then why don't you tell me what the hell I'm doing wrong?"

"I would if you would shut up." I glared at Hiei again, but kept my mouth closed. "In order to control fire, you have to become heated; think of something that makes you angry or annoyed." I muttered that I knew of something that should work and I thought about how I liked Hiei, but all he seemed to think of me was an annoying woman, a 'baka onna'. How the kiss we shared a while ago seemed to mean nothing to him after it happened. How I couldn't stop liking Hiei no matter how hard I tried.

Unknown to me, Hiei's eyes widened as he listened in on my thoughts, though he quickly composed his features. "Now summon." My hand stretched out before me, forming in an upside down, clawed position. Fire leapt to life in my hand and formed the whip instantly. "Keep a hold of the anger and visualize the weapon you want the fire to morph into." I visualized the whip changing into a sword and was amazed when it actually did so. I then used the weapon I just created and sliced a tree that was near me. It was on fire in a second. I released the fire and summoned water to put out the fire that I had just created.

After the fire was put out, I turned back toward Hiei to thank him and my eyes widened when I realized that he was a mere inch from my face. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out…in fact my mouth went dry and I was force to close my mouth and swallow to even gain some sort of moister in my mouth. As I swallowed, I saw Hiei's eyes dart in the direction of my throat and then back up to my eyes. I realized at that moment that at least one of us was leaning in toward the other. I had felt my eyelids droop a bit, but as they were about to close and our lips were about to connect—he vanished.

I blinked my eyes open and looked around in confusion. Hiei was gone, and I was alone…save for Senko who was looking at me like I had suddenly grown ten heads. I closed my eyes and exhaled a sigh as realization washed over me about what had almost happened. I almost growled in frustration as I stomped my foot down exclaiming, "Stupid!" I shrieked in shock as my foot became engulfed in flames…and the tongues of fire were steadily climbing up my body. I tried to summon water over to me to put out the water, but as soon as the water hit the fire, it hissed and turned into steam. By this time, my entire body was consumed by fire; the odd thing was it wasn't burning my skin…though my back did feel as if it were on fire. I also felt an unbearable pain and heard a loud crack a few moments later. I fell to the ground in pain and all I could do is wrap my arms around my torso and scream, tears forming in my eyes but evaporating before they could even travel down my cheeks.

~x~

Hiei growled in frustration as he leaned against a tree a little ways from where he had left the onna. He couldn't believe he almost let Kimiko kiss him…again! He growled in frustration again. Hiei was just about to return to the house when he heard a loud shriek that was undoubtedly Kimiko's. Hiei turned and looked in said direction in confusion before he saw a dark shape rushing toward him. As the shape drew nearer, Hiei realized that the shape was Kimiko's wolf. The wolf came running up toward Hiei and then something…different…happened: the wolf started _yelling_ at Hiei.

"_Hey baka, I know you can hear me! Get your ass over here! Kimiko needs help!"_ Then the wolf commenced in freaking out. Hiei stared at the wolf blankly for a few seconds before she growled and grabbed his cloak with her fangs and proceeded to drag him back toward Kimiko. When Hiei had been drug back to where Kimiko was, his eyes widened incredulously; she was on fire, and there was the forming of wings on her back. As Hiei stood there in shock, he could see feathers starting to form.

"_What the hell are you waiting for? Get in there and stop the fire!"_

Hiei glared at the wolf. "I can't. She needs that for her wings to form. If I were to step in and stop the fire now, it would mean even more pain later on for her; it's better to allow the wings to form now and then stop the fire. It won't be much longer." In the time it took Hiei to speak, the wings were already half-covered in feathers. It would only be a matter of time before the wings were fully formed and then, and only then, would Hiei go and help the onna. He just hoped that she would last that long.

~x~

I continued to scream as the pain continued to increase. After about a minute of screaming, I could only whimper as the unbearable pain in my back continued. There was a lot of snapping, cracking, and popping going on and I did not like it because every time one of those sounds happened, the pain increased. When I thought that I could handle the pain no longer, the heat, noises, and pain subsided, and I felt a gentle hand resting on my shoulder before I fell into the darkness that awaited me.

~x~

Hiei waited until the wings had fully formed before he approached the onna. He steadily outstretched his hand toward the onna, the flames engulfing it as well. When he laid his hand on the onna's shoulder, the flames disappeared. Kimiko sighed in relief as the fire left her body before she collapsed. Hiei stared at Kimiko for a second, amazed that she lasted as long as she had—he had seen wings being birthed before; it was not pleasant and the owner normally passed out before the onna had…but Hiei supposed he shouldn't be too surprised; the onna seemed to be late about everything where her kind was involved—before he picked her up and was about to start carrying her when he realized that she was barely clothed: Her shirt had been ripped when her wings came out and was burnt from the fire that had surrounded her; her pants were also barely covering her as they too had been burnt away. Hiei managed to take off his cloak and place it atop of her before he started to sprint back toward the house, the wolf trailing after him.

Hiei made it to the house and kicked the door so that it opened and allowed him to enter the house without having to set the onna down. The wolf had followed after him, but ran in front of Hiei and growled at the first person she saw, which happened to be Kurama. The fox looked at the wolf in confusion before he looked over to see Hiei holding Kimiko. Kurama rushed over and looked at the onna to see that she was unconscious before he looked at Hiei.

"What happened to her?"

"She released her fire chakra…and grew wings. Now have Koenma summon a portal so she can get treated," Hiei snapped, irritated with the fox for not thinking to do so as soon as he saw Hiei carrying the onna. Wasn't he normally the quick thinker?

"Right." Kurama instantly went and called for a portal from Koenma. Kurama offered to take Kimiko from Hiei, but Hiei deigned the offer; Kurama would have put too much strain on Kimiko's new wings and her tired body. Hiei went through the portal while Kurama said that he would get the others. As soon as Hiei stepped out of the portal and into Koenma's office, the tiny lord jumped to his feet on his chair and demanded to know what had happened to Kimiko. Hiei withheld a growl of annoyance and explained what happened to the onna…again. After Hiei had finished his explanation, Koenma fell back into his chair and sighed; then, Koenma pointed Hiei in the direction of the infirmary and sent Hiei to go and drop off Kimiko.

…

It was a while before the whole group had gathered together in the waiting area of the infirmary to wait for Kimiko to be released to return home. Hiei stared out the window that was near where he was seated. He glanced down and grimaced as he noticed that his arms were covered in blood, as was his shirt, and—was that puss? Hiei refrained from wrinkling his nose as he realized that he would most certainly need a shower later.

A few minutes later, the doctor stepped out of the room where Kimiko was. He walked up to the group and looked around, asking for the person who would be responsible for the care of Kimiko while she was to recover from the trauma that had just happened to her body. Ryumi stepped forward and the doctor began to explain to Ryumi how she was to care for the onna while the detectives waited to hear how Kimiko was doing.

"You are going to need to apply this ointment to the base of her wings for her to avoid getting an infection. She will also need rest…a lot of rest. She has lost a great deal of energy during the stress that her body just went through, so do try to keep her on bed rest for a while." Ryumi nodded and made a mental note for all the things that the doctor had said to do for Kimiko to get well. After Ryumi had reaffirmed what the doctor had said (and he was sure Ryumi knew what to do), the doctor turned to the rest of the group and said to follow him to see Kimiko.

The doctor led the group to where Kimiko lay on the hospital bed. She was asleep on her side with a sheet wrapped around her as the only source of clothing. (The latter fact made the boys flush, though Hiei hid his well.) She seemed quite uncomfortable and seemed to want to turn onto her back or stomach, but the nurses wouldn't allow her to do so. The doctor explained a bit more as to what happened and the effects it would have on Kimiko for the time being.

"When Kimiko unleashed her fire chakra, she unleashed an enormous amount of energy. She will be very tired and easily winded during the time it takes her to recuperate. So she should not do very much manual labor, or much of anything for that matter. It would be best for her to remain in bed rest for the entirety of her recuperation…though I am quite sure that that will not happen. What I request is that someone be with her at all times (or at least someone be available to assist her whenever she needs them to do so); this will help prevent any further injuries from occurring…as she is likely to lose balance, fall, or even pass out from overexertion.

"Once she is awake, you may take her back home. My request is that only a couple of you are to stay to take her home. This room is much too small for everyone to stay and fit comfortably in here while waiting for your friend to awaken. And besides that, we are pretty busy right now and the large group of you staying would cause a great deal of trouble for the staff, so please agree on whom are staying and the rest of you kindly leave."

Kurama, Yusuke, and Ryumi really wanted to stay, but Hiei pointed out that none of them would be able to adequately carry the onna home without causing her more injury as they were all larger than her by a great deal. After that comment, it was agreed that Hiei would stay to carry her back (they were sure that she would not have the energy to return home on her own). Ryumi then pointed out that it would more than likely make Kimiko feel better to be with a female when she wakes up, especially the female that is to be caring for her until she was well again, given the state of dress (or undress as the case may be) that she was currently in. In the end, it was decided that Hiei and Ryumi would stay to get Kimiko home.

~x~

I groaned as I awoke from the blackness that had surrounded me. I clenched my eyes before opening them, only to shut them again due to the brightness of the light. The bright light made me woozy. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself suddenly staring at purple. Inclining my eyes, I found the source of the sudden purple to be Ryumi. When she saw that I was looking at her, she sighed in relief.

"Oh thank goodness." My only response was a long yawn. She chuckled and announced, "I'll be right back; I'm going to tell the doctor that you have awakened." I tiredly nodded and started to nod off to sleep again when a definite male voice (that I could never mistake as anyone else but Hiei) spoke.

"If you want to return home, stay awake." I slowly opened my eyes and allowed my eyes to travel to where Hiei's voice had originated. He sat in a chair and looked slightly uncomfortable; I supposed he was not used to sitting in actual seats like everyone else…what with him sitting in window seats all the time. I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he meant by that but I was stopped when a yawn escaped my mouth instead. As it turned out, I hadn't needed to ask aloud; Hiei spoke after I finished yawning as if I had. "The doctor said that once you awaken, we may go home." I slowly nodded in understanding. I would just have to make sure that I stayed awake long enough to be released by the doctor, and then as we were leaving, I could sleep again. "Something like that."

I looked at him oddly but I wasn't able to comment as Ryumi returned with a lower-class demon in a lap coat. The demon introduced himself as Doctor Hakushi.* I gave a tired chuckle as the doctor smiled. "Yes I know, quite cliché. Now, I have to make sure that everything is still a-okay with you and then you will be released from my care." I nodded half heartedly and allowed Dr. Hakushi to give me an inspection (which I seemed to pass) before he gave his permission for me to leave. "Oh, ma'am," I turned to look at him as he left. "You are more than welcome to keep that sheet. I am quite certain you still wish to be clothed as you leave here." I flushed scarlet, and Dr. Hakushi chuckled as he left.

My blush intensified (if that were even possible) when Hiei suddenly picked me up and started walking out of the infirmary; Ryumi walked behind us, grinning at me like an idiot. (If I hadn't of been so tired and embarrassed already, I would have buried my head into Hiei's chest…but I refrained from doing so.) We passed through Koenma's office and Koenma asked Hiei if he could bring me to see said tiny lord the following day, that there were a few things that he wanted to discuss with me but he didn't wish for me to have to overexert myself in order to do so. Hiei's usual response of 'Hn' seemed to satisfy the toddler lord and Koenma allowed us to leave.

The trip was brief as Hiei took me straight to my room and lied me on my bed. As soon as Hiei was out of the room, Ryumi started to explain everything that was to happen until I was well again. All through her explanation, I was barely listening, drifting on the edge of slumber, when something she said caught my attention.

"…and so I have to apply this ointment to the base of your wings to avoid infection…" I interrupted her then.

"Wait, WHAT?"

She looked at me confused. "What do you mean 'what'? You don't want an infection, do you? That would truly be hell if you got one." I shook my head with a fervor that I didn't know I had at the moment. I told her that the infection wasn't what I had said 'what' about. "Then what?"

"I have _wings_?"

"Didn't you notice the difference of the weight on your back?" She raised an eyebrow at me. I shook my head. "How could you not?"

I flushed a bit and mumbled, "I was out of it some of the time and being carried the rest of it." A sly grin spread across her features as she spoke.

"Yeah, you were being carried…by a certain fire demon that has your fancy."

"Ryumi!" She started laughing.

* * *

_*Hakushi-meaning doctor in Japanese_

_Why was Hiei so unwilling to let someone else carry Kimiko? Was it for the reasons he said? Or was there another motive behind his actions? You'll just have to wait and see. :P_

_Okay, so I was inspired to write this chapter a little bit ago and I finally finished it today! Yay me! Anyway, please, please, please review and be patient with me. I'm in school and I have like a test everyday that I'm in school for two weeks in a row. So please be patient with me. ^-^_


	24. 23 Adjustments and Warnings

**Part 23: Adjustments and Warnings**

Early two mornings afterward, an annoying feeling on my back woke me up. I turned my head to where I was looking over my shoulder and saw Ryumi applying ointment on my back…or my wings to be more accurate. I was surprised to say the least to see my wings for the first time. They surprised me with how large they were. When I was lying on my back, my wings draped on both sides of my body for about twice the length of my arms. They were a fading red color and had a slight burnt look as well. They were quite awesome looking in my personal opinion.

Ryumi noticed that I was now awake and smiled down at me sheepishly. "Morning Sleepy Head, did I wake you up?" I shook my head but said that she had awakened me a bit; the rest of the reason being that my body was used to waking up at about this time. "Well, I'm glad I wasn't the true reason why you awoke. Are you ready to take a shower? I'll help if you need it." I nodded slightly and said that I needed help get dressed and undressed because I was still not used to the wings and I was still a little weak. She nodded and helped me out when I needed it.

…

It was about an hour and a half before I sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast. I ate my meal (thankfully on my own) and then moved my chair away from the table, but had to lean against the back of the chair because a dizzying wave washed over me. Yusuke and Ryumi were at my side keeping me upright in a blink of an eye. Kuwabara and Kurama looked at me worriedly before I waved everyone off, saying that I was fine; that the dizzy spell was gone. I stood up and, after gaining my footing, started walking toward the sink and placed my plate in the sink. I had to pause for a second or two to regain my breath before walking (or at least trying to walk) into the living room.

~x~

Hiei watched the onna make a fool of herself. She tried to walk to the couch on her own before she stopped halfway and started wobbling in place. The Detective was at her side in a second and was helping her to the couch. Hiei looked away toward his plate to fight off the random urge that suddenly washed over him to be the one to help the onna to the couch and finished his meal before placing the plate in the sink and sitting in his window seat.

About a half an hour later, the child lord's face appeared on the television, abruptly interrupting the show Yusuke was watching. "Good afternoon Detectives." Yusuke yelled at Koenma saying that he just interrupted the show he was watching and that the best part of the show was playing currently. "Well, I am sorry to interrupt your precious show Yusuke, but I wish to speak with Kimiko if she is able."

~x~

I nodded to Koenma and stood, wobbling, and took a single step forward but had to stop for fear of falling over again. This falling bullshit was really getting on my nerves. I sighed and was just about to say that I couldn't go when I was suddenly lifted off my feet and was being carried toward the portal that suddenly appeared. I glanced up to see Hiei was the person who was carrying me. I withheld the blush that wanted to surface. Then I remembered that Hiei had said that he would take me (sort of) to talk to Koenma the other day.

Hiei set me down in a chair in front of Koenma's desk before going back toward the portal and disappeared through it. After a moment of silence, Koenma started speaking.

"Kimiko, I am quite certain that you have come to realize that you are quite unique. Not only are you special because you are an elementalist, but you also have wings—which make you all the more special. There are only two elementalists that possess wings: Hitomi and now you. Hitomi was, and still is, the original pupil of Kara. Kara trained her and Hitomi became very strong, but sadly, something happened and she turned bad. So now, we have two elementalists with wings: one for the light, and one for the dark. We have a more formal name for what you have now become: You have now become an elemental maiden.

"It is a well-known fact among the worlds that an elemental maiden is nearly unbeatable; the only being in the worlds that could defeat an elemental maiden, is another elemental maiden. When an elemental maiden dies, the killer gets the powers and abilities of the dead maiden, and another elementalist is born in the Makai or Ningenkai…as not much is _born_ in the Reikai. Because of this you must be very careful when you go on missions with the boys, as Hitomi will try to kill you to obtain your powers and abilities. You must always be on guard when you are out from now on. Do you understand everything that I just said? I know it is a lot of information in such a small amount of time, and add to it all that you are still recovering from getting your wings…it could be a lot to take in it all. Do you have any questions Kimiko?"

"Let me get this straight: I have now grown to a level past all of the boys and the one person who could kill me is Hitomi—the original pupil of Kara, my elementalist trainer—and Hitomi is going to more than likely come to kill me so she can have her own powers as well as mine, so I have to always be on guard away from the house. Why am I so safe at the house?" My voice was starting to become tired as I fought to stay awake to get my facts straight.

"The house has a protective barrier around it, and it is also a house in _my_ custody…a fact that scares many demons away from even _trying_ to come close to it. Also, I must correct myself with what I said earlier: You have the _potential_ to become nearly unbeatable; you are not yet there. In order for that to happen, you must unleash what is called your Maiden form, which is when you are nearly unbeatable. The Maiden form differs for every elemental maiden, when you are either at your purest form or your most evil form. For you, it will be purest, unless you are turned from the light to the dark; we just pray that does not happen. So you must also be careful of being led astray as well."

"Wonderful," I said. My statement complete with the sarcasm that was embedded into it, but the statement was ruined when I suddenly yawned.

"Are there any more questions? Or have you had enough information for the day?"

"I think I've had enough for the day. I feel like I'm about to keel over in a dead sleep here shortly if we don't stop." I gave a tired laugh before yawning again. Koenma chuckled before calling in Hiei and dismissing me. I fell asleep as soon as Hiei picked me up.

* * *

_So, it's been a while since I updated and I'm truly sorry; I'm also sorry that this one is so short. D: I'll try to get the next part out here shortly, but sadly no guarantees. I'll also try to add a little something to make things a little better. :P  
_


	25. 24 Closer

**Part 24: Closer**

I awoke some time later to find myself still in my clothes from earlier and tucked beneath my sheets. I sat up with a slight struggle and looked around. I noticed that I was alone, but that I was hungry. _Very_ hungry. I struggled to crawl out of bed and stand, righting my balance, before slowly walking down the hall to the stairs and then slowly and very carefully made my way down those.

~x~

Hiei watched the onna as she made her way down the stairs. He would not intervene unless she started to fall or something of the like. He did not want to be that close to her; for one, her wings were a pain to move around without hurting her; and secondly, he didn't like how his body reacted when she was in his arms. It left him with a feel of unease. Mukuro (who had been very close to Hiei near the end of her life) had not caused these feelings to stir within the short fire demon, and it startled him more than he would care to admit.

Kimiko paused at the bottom of the steps to catch her breath. She had worn herself out. She stayed in her place for a minute or two before she turned her head to the side and glanced over her shoulder. Hiei knew that she was looking for him, but because he was concealed in the shadows she didn't see him and started to slowly move again. She got about halfway from the stairs to the kitchen and had to pause, leaning on her knees—her body started quivering as she stood still. She was panting, trying to calm down, but her body didn't want to cooperate. She made a disgruntled noise before taking a single step forward.

~x~

I was determined to get to the kitchen by myself, even if I hurt myself in the process. And seeing as how I didn't sense anyone near, I didn't think there would be any help for me for a while if I did manage to fall and not be able to get back up on my own. Imagine my surprise when I started to fall and ended up in a strong pair of arms and the familiar scent of a certain fire demon suddenly enveloped my senses. "H-Hiei. W-what are you doing down here?" I whispered in shock.

"What does it look like Onna? Keeping you from hurting yourself because of your own sheer stupidity, and you woke me up when you were on your way down the hall and stairs." I blushed a deep crimson as I realized that I _had_ sensed Hiei in the room (but because I hadn't seen him, I had thought that I was just imagining things) and he had watched me struggle to get to the kitchen. I was interrupted from my thoughts and self-berating when a cold, solid object was felt underneath my butt. I snapped to attention and looked around in confusion. Hiei had taken me to the kitchen. I looked to the side where I had felt a presence standing and saw Hiei looking at me. I had to admit he was quite handsome, even in the dark. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark. The urge to lean down and kiss him passed over me, but I resisted. The last thing I needed was to get Hiei mad at me; he had caught and carried me…multiple times even. And during the whole thing, he never showed one ounce of interest. The moment I realized that, impossibility set in and I realized that the likeliness of any relationship forming between Hiei and myself was unattainable and unlikely. So I thought it best for me to gather all my feelings and thoughts for said fire demon and pack them and lock them away in a box labeled _'Hiei' _in the back of my mind. I had just selected the last of the thoughts and was just about to lock it away forever, but I was suddenly on my feet and something warm was covering my mouth. I froze in shock. _'No way in hell…'_

~x~

Hiei was frozen in place. He couldn't believe what he just did. He was supposed to be trying to keep the onna _**away**_ from him, not encourage her by _kissing_ her! He didn't know what came over him; she had been thinking about it being impossible to have a relationship with him and had started locking him away from her thoughts and feelings, and some urge overwhelmed him and before he knew it, he had given into the urge and pulled her down and kissed her. She was frozen in shock; he didn't blame her. Hiei was frozen himself. Kimiko started to slowly relax in the kiss and started to close her eyes and started kissing Hiei. Hiei was still frozen in shock.

~x~

I started kissing Hiei, but I received no response. I was just about to pull away, when he started kissing back. A small smile slid across my lips before I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss ever so slightly. But just as quickly as the kiss started, it ended. I gasped as looked around confused until a light overhead turned on, and I saw a very tired looking Yusuke standing in the doorway. _'That explains why Hiei just up and left.' _

"Kimiko, what are you doing up at this hour? And did you walk here all by yourself?" His voice was tired and groggy, but he was starting to come out of the haze of sleep.

"Hey Yusuke. To answer your questions: I woke up and was hungry and yes, I did come down here by myself." I figured I'd spare Hiei by not telling Yusuke that he had helped me. "It took me a while to get down here, and now I can't seem to gather the energy to get my food." My tone was sheepish as I ended my statement. Yusuke chuckled before he walked over to the fridge and asked me what I wanted. "Well, what is there?"

"Let's see…" He then told me about there being stuff for sandwiches, some things for omelets, leftover pancakes from that morning's breakfast, and a few other things. I told him that a sandwich would be fine, and he grabbed all the things that would make a sandwich and pulled them out. I laughed at him.

"Yusuke, I don't need _that_ much stuff on my sandwich." He grinned and said that some of it was for him, that I had gotten him hungry. I laughed again, and before long, we were sitting down at the table enjoying our sandwiches. We ate our sandwiches in silence for the most part, aside from the small-talk that was issued here and there. After we finished, Yusuke helped me back into my room before I fell back asleep, thinking about everything that had happened that night.

~x~

Hiei sighed as he rested from when he was attacking the innocent tree that had gotten in his way. Hiei couldn't believe that he had allowed the onna to kiss him…again. And to make it even better, he had kissed her back…but he had technically started it…but that didn't matter! It was her fault that he was now confused and irritated. This was seriously getting ridiculous. Didn't Hiei want to keep Kimiko away from him? Not let her get too close? So why had he kissed her and then allowed her to kiss him, and then kissed her back? He blew out a breath of annoyance and ran his hand against his forehead and into his hair. Kimiko was utterly confusing Hiei, and Hiei did not like to be confused. Not in the least. Hiei sighed through his nose as he noticed that the sun was starting to rise. He needed to get some sleep, even if it was just a little bit of sleep. Hiei grabbed his cloak before he ran back to the house and jumped up into his window. He knew that tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day. Hiei just wanted to kill something he was so excited about it.

* * *

_So, why is Hiei acting so weirdly? Will something come of this kiss, or will it just fall to the floor like the last one? Just wait and see next time on _Tamer of the Dragon_!_

_So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you see anything that needed to be improved? Let me know via review! ^-^ Also, sorry that the chapters have been so short. D: The Writer's Block Fairies have been attacking and it was all I could do to beat them, even just a little.  
_

_~Selli_


	26. 25 Realizations

**Part 25: Realizations**

I sighed as I made it down to the breakfast table by myself…though Ryumi was following closely behind me. I was thankfully recovering and getting used to having my wings. It really was encumbering to have wings suddenly bestowed upon you. It tended make life suddenly extremely difficult. As I sat at the table with everyone gathered around, I realized there was something else that tended to make life difficult: having an awkward moment (such as kissing someone the night prior) and then being in the same room and in close proximity to said person, and then having said person trying to stay away from you without the others in the room knowing or discovering anything. I quietly sighed to myself as I took in these facts. I almost wished Hiei and I _hadn't _kissed the previous night.

…

After breakfast, Ryumi decided that it was time to get me to start using my wings. She knew from experience with her dragons that if the dragons didn't use their wings not too long after they got them, the wings would be useless to the dragons; she didn't want that happening to me. So, she helped me change into my workout clothes and took me outside. When I got out there, a shiver ran down my spine. It was a little cold outside.

"Hm…you up for cleaning off the rink?" I looked at Ryumi incredulously. "What? You need to get back into shape, and the best way to do that is to start with some small stuff. Sweeping the rink with my help won't be too bad, promise." I sighed and agreed.

It turned out that "sweeping" turned into me moving the leaves, dirt, and other things off the rink by manipulating the wind. It went by a lot more quickly than I would have thought. I was thankful.

"It looks good. Now it's time for you to start getting used to using those wings."

I looked at Ryumi pointedly and asked in a dry tone, "And how, might I ask, am I going to accomplish that?" Ryumi grinned.

"Practice!" I groaned while she grinned.

~x~

Kurama looked out the kitchen window as he prepared lunch for everyone, and he chuckled at the sight that awaited him: Kimiko was chasing Ryumi around the rink throwing balls of water, clumps of earth, and gusts of wind at the purple haired female; Ryumi was dodging them in turn, making Kimiko more annoyed and trying to hit Ryumi that much harder. From the looks of things outside, Kimiko had not made much progress in learning how to use her wings. If any at all, Kurama mentally added when he saw how Kimiko's wings were still hanging limply off her back. This made the fox worry slightly. Weren't the girls supposed to be outside to have Kimiko learn how to control and use her wings? So why had no progress been made? Kurama was about to place the food on simmer, cover it, and go outside to see what was going on when Ryumi and Kimiko both stopped and starting laughing. Reading the girls' lips, Kurama discovered that they had been warming up (mainly for Kimiko) before moving on to working with the wings. Kurama relaxed a bit and went back to preparing and cooking the food while watching the girls work outside.

~x~

I winced at the feeling of something moving and tugging at my back. That was going take a lot of getting used to. "Good job Kimiko. Now that you are able to hold your wings up, let's see if we can get you to flap them." I winced again (more out of agitation than pain) before closing my eyes and focusing on controlling the new muscles in my back that controlled my wings. I felt them constricting and expanding as my brain sent the instructions to start beating my wings. I felt cold wind at my feet after a few minutes of standing there doing nothing but thinking about beating my wings. "Awesome Kimiko! You're doing it! Put more force into it and see if you can get off the ground."

I did as I was told and felt my feet lifting off the ground ever so slightly (perhaps a centimeter from the ground). I was about to see if I could go higher when my wings stopped flapping and I fell to the ground and landed in a kneeling position, panting. Ryumi was at my side in a millisecond. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I got tired," I said still panting. She nodded, though her eyebrows furrowed in either confusion or worry (I wasn't sure which, possibly both), before she stood and helped me up and into the house as Kurama opened the door to tell us that lunch was ready. As soon as Kurama saw me leaning on Ryumi, he instantly came over to help while I mentally sighed. There I go again, needing help. Couldn't I take care of myself anymore? Apparently not, I decided as I was set in the chair for lunch. Yusuke asked what happened to me.

"I just overexerted myself is all; I'll be fine in a bit," I said before anyone else could say anything. I really hoped that things got better for me in the near future; otherwise I might go slightly insane. I felt a pair of eyes looking at me to my left and glanced over in said direction to see Hiei looking away from me. I almost frowned; what was with Hiei this morning? He studiously avoided me, and now he was looking at me when I came in from training with the help of two teammates. He was confusing me. I thought that he didn't like me, but if he didn't, why had he kissed me last night? I shook my head to clear it of that thought because I had a feeling that if I didn't, I would go insane. If I thought about anything concerning Hiei for too long, I would go insane; that was a fact…a fact not proven, but I didn't want to prove that one.

After lunch, Ryumi let me rest outside for a bit by working with the elements. When I had asked her how this was rest, she replied with, "Well, for one, you're not using your wings to work with the elements, and two, you're not moving around too much. Therefore, you're resting." Senko, who had followed us outside, snickered at me from behind. I turned to glare at Senko and then blew her away with a little gust of wind. When she tumbled over a bit, it was my turn to snicker.

~x~

Hiei watched the onna train with Ryumi from his window in the house. His eyes darted to follow her movements. After a while of staring, Hiei finally realized what it was he was doing and shook his head, turning away from the window. He sat on his bed and took down one of his swords to polish it, but somewhere during the polishing process, he moved himself onto his window seat so he could watch the onna train some more. He nearly growled when he had realized what he had done a few minutes after moving. Why the hell was he trying to keep an eye on the onna? This morning he had tried to avoid her in attempt to lessen the pull he had felt while around her; it had only made it worse. Then, when she had been brought in from training by Ryumi and the fox, a bubble of anxiety had developed in his stomach and he couldn't help but look at her to make sure she was all right. That bubble had really annoyed Hiei at the time, and it still did. Why the hell was he acting like this? He did not like females, especially the onna, because all they brought was trouble…so why was he doing all these things? And then it hit him.

Hiei stared ahead of himself dumbfounded. He had become…interested…in the onna. "How the hell did that happen?"

* * *

_Sorry that this part is so short, but this was all I could do to actually get a new part posted. I hope you all liked it, and please (as always) let me know what you think via review. Thanks a bunch. ~Selli _


	27. 26 Confrontation

_Responses to reviews:_

_**LadyAmazon:**__ Damn straight it's the power of the author! XD I have to say that I laughed for quite some time at that. As for when he fell, well, that can be debated. ;P_

_**Wolvesrain17:**__ Why thank you! It makes me happy to know that there are some readers that have been with this story since the first time that I posted it and are still with it. Thank you again and please keep reading! :D_

_**KuramaMustangElric: **__Yes, yes life is indeed wonderfully confusing, but that's what makes it so much fun! And yes, yes it did…but if it didn't, he wouldn't be the Hiei we all know and love: the stubborn, smartass, and quiet Hiei. ^-^_

_Thank you all for reviewing, and hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

* * *

**Part 26: Confrontation**

It had been a couple of weeks since Ryumi had first taken me out to start working on using my wings, and I had been, thankfully, getting more and more used to having and using them. I would say that after another practice session or two, I would have them completely under control. That was a relief and a half for me, let me tell you.

During all of my training times, I had felt the sensation of eyes following my every move. It unnerved me, but every time I tried to look over my shoulder discreetly, I hadn't seen anyone. It was very odd.

~x~

Hiei could not believe how low he had become. Ever since he had admitted to himself that he had felt an…attachment…to the onna, he had constantly watched her train, watched her when she was with the rest of the group and how she acted around them and reacted to them, and watched her while she ate. It really was irksome and highly uncharacteristic of Hiei, but Hiei found he was unable to stop himself, making it all the more bothersome.

Hiei _knew_ he had to do something about this irksome matter before it drove him to insanity. And he had tried, many times in fact, to stop the attachment he felt toward the onna. He knew that for someone like him, attachment was not an option. Attachment meant weaknesses; and weakness meant there was a way for his enemies to get to him, and Hiei still had _quite_ a many of those. Hiei _knew_ he couldn't and shouldn't have attachments, but every time he would see the onna, he didn't _want_ to _not_ have attachments. It was highly confusing, but Hiei being Hiei, he refused to go to anyone for assistance; for fear that weakness would be shown. So there he sat, watching the onna, yet again, while she ate her breakfast with everyone one autumn morning a couple of weeks after the start of her 'wing' training, completely unable to stop himself. _'Damn attachments,'_ thought Hiei as the onna looked at him from the corner of her eye, causing him to look away, lest he be caught.

~x~

I was seriously confused as to what the hell was going on. I had thought that Hiei had hated me, yet he had kissed me. Then he avoided me, and then we kissed again. After we kissed the last time, he quickly left and hadn't spoken to me (in any way shape or form) or looked at me for a good two weeks or so. Then, I suddenly start feeling his gaze on me all the freaking time! And now I catch him looking away when I glanced in his direction. What the hell? Come on, man! Make up your bloody mind!

After breakfast, and during my first training of the day, I decided to talk to Ryumi about it. "So what do you think?" I asked as I dodge her (half-hearted) attacks.

"Rewind for a second. You did _what,_ and you didn't tell me about this afterward? What is wrong with you? I want to know about these details!" I rolled my eyes at my only (currently present) female friend.

"About what is going on right now? What do you have to say about _that_?"

"Yeah, about that…I have absolutely no idea." I fall to the ground out of shock before rising from said position annoyed, left hand clenched into a fist. I thought I felt a vein in my head pulsating and vaguely wondered if I should worry about it bursting.*

"You are absolutely no help!"

"Hey, at least I'm listening." I nodded after a minute or two to cool down, "You've got a point."

We continued our training until lunch, hurriedly ate said lunch, and then went back off to training until dinner. The entire time we were training, I felt someone's eyes on me.

...

All through the day I felt eyes on me, though on the plus side I mastered using my wings. When I was with the boys, I had glanced over a few times and saw that Hiei was looking away from me every time. I frowned a bit at the thought of it. I decided, after a while of being stared at, that I was going to go to Hiei's room and ask him what the hell his problem was, tonight after everyone went to bed. I glanced over at him again to see his eyes darting back to look out the window, though I could have sworn that I saw a ghost of a smirk on his lips.

...

I waited for a while (after everyone went into their rooms) before I ventured out of my room and into Hiei's with quiet steps. I opened the door, making sure to not allow the door to creak while I entered his room for the second time since coming to live at this house. This time, however, it felt slightly different. While I was coming into here to find something out, the first time was not nearly as…personal…as this time seemed to be. I just hoped that I didn't leave here as confused as I had the previous time.

I quietly closed the door and waited until my eyes readjusted to the lack of light before I turned around, and then I froze. Hiei was sitting on his bed looking at me with a steady gaze. I felt my eyes widen and my body tense as Hiei continued to stare at me.

"_What is it you want, Onna?"_ I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat and opened my mouth but Hiei cut me off. _"Keep your mouth closed. You're liable to wake up the entire house. I can hear your thoughts, communicate with me that way."_ I nodded slowly.

I decided to not even beat around the bush and just come out with it. _'I want to know what the hell is going on with you. Are you bipolar or something? I mean, one second you're kissing me, then the next you're threatening me! Come on, make up your mind—'_ Hiei rolled his eyes before he was suddenly in front of me and pulled me against his body and lowered his lips to mine.

I froze momentarily before returning the kiss. The kiss started to heat up, but Hiei broke the kiss before it led to anything. I was gasping for breath while Hiei stared at me like he normally did: bored, though his breathing was slightly heavier than usual. _"Was that sufficient enough to explain what is _going on_ with me?"_ A small smile slid onto me face when I saw the irritation on his face. He obviously didn't _want_ to like me. _"I don't _like_ you, Onna. I have just become…interested. Do not confuse the two." _ I smirked in amusement and shook my head.

'_Sure, Hiei, whatever you say…'_ I trailed off of my sarcastic thought with a smile. Hiei's eyes narrowed at my person. _'Don't worry, Hiei, I won't let it go to my head.' _He smirked.

"_You'd better not, or you'll regret it…I'll make sure of that."_ The suggestive smirk that resided on his lips almost made me uneasy. _Almost._ Hiei glared at me, while I smirked again.

* * *

_*Basically: "anime vein" and "anime fall"_

_So, there's some more Hiei-Kimiko action… ^-^ I know that it took me a while to finally get this thing out, and when I do, it's so _short_! D: I'm truly sorry about that, by the way. Anyway, I'm starting to get over the major of the Writer's Block Fairies' attacks. Unfortunately, the Writer's Block Fairies have called in for reinforcements, the "College Classes Fairies" that are the Writer's Block Fairies' cousins. Both fairy forces are attacking full force, but I have gotten back-up as well, "The Power of Boredom!" so I shouldn't be held back too much by these fairies. Reviews help power up "The Power of Boredom!"and therefore will ultimately help me defeat the fairies that much faster. ^-~_


	28. 27 FUBAR

_Responses to reviews:_

_**Kagome141414: **__Thank you very much! ^-^_

_**Yyh-ygo-fma: **__Thank you very much! ^-^ And yes, it would feel really annoying. XD_

_**Wolvesrain17: **__Thank you very much! You have been with this fanfic for quite a while…actually, I believe you're one of the longest following readers out there. ^-^ Makes me very happy. Also, you're awesome! Thank you so much, again! XD I loved the picture! ^-^_

_**Ai. Amber: **__Daw! Thank you! ^-^ I shall write more, and I also hope to finish this story (which will be a task in itself, seeing as how I haven't finished many stories ^-^;). However, if you don't like long stories, this probably wouldn't be a good story to read. XD But, judging by how you reacted to the number of chapters posted, I don't think I'll need to fear losing you as a reader. XD_

_**To all readers: **__Thank you all for reading, and to those who haven't reviewed, if you want your name up here, just leave a review; you don't have to be a member to leave a review. I'll respond to _anyone_ who reviews. To those who have and haven't reviewed: You're all awesome! Thank you so much for giving me the incentive to continue writing this story. You all mean so much to me. ^-^ Thank you all again! Now on to the story!_

_You all really should at least skim through the responses to reviews; there can be some really interesting or important information that you might want to know…just saying. ^-^_

I want to send a special thank you to Wolvesrain17; it was because of her that this chapter is getting posted. The picture she drew for this story is amazing and you all should check it out! ^-^ wolvesrain17[dot]deviantart[dot]com. Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. You all mean so much to me! Thanks again, and hope you enjoy!

* * *

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

**Part 27: FUBAR**

The following weeks passed without much happening. The only things that happened (that were interesting) were that Ryumi and I started training a little more in depth (she even summoned a smaller of her dragons to fight against me), I was able to fully use my wings (and Ryumi still made sure to keep them functioning fully), and I visited Hiei in his room a couple times a week (though nothing really happened; we just sort of sat there the entire time). Then, something interesting happened during the following week.

I was relaxing on the couch, watching some TV with Yusuke and Kuwabara, when Koenma's face appeared on the screen. "Oh come on!" Yusuke shouted at the toddler lord. "That was the best part of the show!" I snickered at the loud mouth seated next to me. Ryumi, who was on the chair near us, looked up at the toddler lord in question, while the two male demons either joined us from the kitchen or looked over at the screen from the window seat.

"Get over it, Yusuke. I need to see you all for a mission. Here is a portal to come here." We all walked through the portal and into Koenma's office. Once we all were in the office, Koenma started explaining the mission.

"For some time now, I have had a team looking for a demon named Chrysanthemous, and by sheer luck, the team tracked his whereabouts." Ryumi's mouth slackened. I glanced at the purple haired female next to me. Was finding that guy (who had a very weird name) really that impressive? Koenma glanced at Ryumi as well as he continued. "I want you all to go to his last known location, and try and find him. And if you do find him, I want you all to take him down. You may use any means necessary."

"Is that really wise, Koenma? I've heard stories about this guy and he is not someone to be trifled with. As from what I've heard, he's the bastard child of a manipulation demon and a shadow demon; he's someone who won't be easy to find if he does not wish to be found." Koenma gave Ryumi a questioning look, clearly asking how the hell she knew all this. "I'm a thief by occupation, Koenma. We have to know anything and everything about anyone worthwhile in the Makai, Reikai, or Ningenkai; it's what we do. I'm sure you could ask those two over there and they would tell you about the same thing," the purple haired thief said while indicating Kurama and Hiei. Hiei simply gave his usual "Hn" while Kurama decided to speak his agreement.

"I will have to agree with Ryumi. Even though I have officially been out of the thieving business for quite a number of years now, I still know a few things about the 'who's who' in all three realms. And Chrysanthemous is not one to be taken lightly. He is, as Ryumi said, the offspring of a manipulation demon and a shadow demon. If we do manage to find him, we would be taking a hefty risk trying to attack him in his own domain." Koenma nodded and sat thinking for a while before changing his plan.

"Alright, then I want you all only to track his whereabouts and, if he is found, follow him to his hideout. I want you all to wait until he leaves again and attack him away from his hideout. You may use any means necessary, and if that means bringing him in dead, then so be it." I glanced at Hiei and saw a ghost of a malicious smirk slither across his lips. Did Hiei really find that much joy in killing people?

"_It comes with age, experience, and way of life, Onna. You wouldn't understand."_ I resisted the urge to scoff at the fire demon. Instead, I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to what the others were saying.

"So, once we find him, Hiei and Kurama will follow him back to his hideout and make sure that he doesn't leave before reporting back to the rest of us his position. After he leaves the following day, we follow him until he is away from his hideout but not near any villages, then we'll attack. There's no need to get bystanders involved. Got it?"

"So while Hiei and Kurama are gone, what will the rest of us do?" Yusuke looked over at Ryumi, surprise in his eyes. "What? I'm being forced into this, but I might as well know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing." Yusuke nodded before glancing at the rest of the team. Kurama's head moved slightly in a nod, causing Yusuke to sigh.

"Alright, well, while Hiei and Kurama are gone, the rest of us will be taking turns resting, preparing for the fight, and keeping a look out for anything that might want to attack us."

"Okay, so who gets what role first?" Yusuke and Kuwabara glanced at each other while muttering "Uh…"

I started laughing quietly. Like Yusuke really planned that far ahead. Ryumi looked at me curiously before I spoke. "I haven't been here very long, but as far as I can tell, Yusuke doesn't think that far ahead. It's a miracle we have this much of a plan ready before we leave. Really, it is." I laughed again when Yusuke playfully glared at me.

"Hey now, I've come a long way since I first started this job, thank you!"

"Hn, yes, now you actually think that bursting into somewhere might not be the best idea."

"Shut up, Shrimp! Do remember that I can still kick your ass." Hiei scoffed as I heard Koenma sigh behind us. I turned to look at the young ruler to see him rubbing his temples but switched to pinching the bridge of his nose when that didn't seem to work. I chuckled in pity for the guy. He really had a lot to deal with…even if the only person here was Yusuke.

"Here is a portal to go to the last known location," Koenma said slightly irked. As we walked through the portal I heard Koenma mutter, "Try not to kill each other."

As we entered the village, we split up into groups and decided to divide and conquer. Ryumi went with Kurama (I had a feeling that was because the fox demon would have been one of the best bets to stop Ryumi if she decided to try and break free) while Hiei took to the trees.

Kuwabara had to stay in the woods as to avoid attracting attention with his human scent. (Hiei had pointed out Kuwabara's scent none too friendly. The conversation resembled: "The Oaf has to stay away; he reeks of humanity." "Shut up, Shrimp!") I had asked Kurama before we had left if I smelt like a human and if I had to stay behind with Kuwabara. He smiled before saying that the scent of my youkai was becoming stronger each day; that I would be fine to go. So I went with Yusuke.

…

After hours of searching, we were told that Chrysanthemous had been found. Yusuke and I traveled to where Hiei had told Yusuke we would be meeting. When we got there, there were three other people there. I glanced around and noticed that Kuwabara was the person was missing. I glanced at Hiei before thinking, _'Is there a reason why Kuwabara isn't here?'_ I saw Hiei glance at me before a ghost of a smirk passed over his lips.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and turned, facing in front of me before listening to what was going on. Chrysanthemous was just headed out of a building and was headed into the woods in a place not too far from where we were standing. We all stayed in place as he passed us and continued on his way. In the blink of an eye, both Hiei and Kurama disappeared when Chrysanthemous was no longer in our sights. Yusuke left soon after to go and retrieve Kuwabara from the spot that he was left and bring him back to the rest of us, leaving Ryumi and me by ourselves.

Ryumi glanced at me before looking up into the trees that were shrouding us from the view of the village. I nodded and she instantly jumped up into the trees; I, on the other hand, had to take a little more time to get up into the trees. Ryumi started quietly chuckling at me as I repeatedly failed at trying to get into the trees. After one failed attempt after another, an idea occurred to me: I was an elementalist demon with _wings_, why didn't I use them?

I took a couple of steps away from the tree before spreading my wings and before I could take off, Yusuke and Kuwabara returned. "What are you doing? And where's Ryumi?" I just looked at him and jumped, using my wings to pick up the slack that my jump gave me. I was seated next to Ryumi a second later. Yusuke looked up at us before mouthing "oh" and grinning. Before too long, all four of us were in the trees waiting for the return of our two missing team members.

~x~

Hiei and Kurama were able to follow Chrysanthemous without problem as the two demons talked via telepathic connection when they needed to. The two demons stopped a while away from where Chrysanthemous had stopped and waited to see if he left, but when he did not leave for some time, they decided that Kurama would stay to watch and possibly follow Chrysanthemous should he move while Hiei left to retrieve the others. Hiei disappeared like a shadow in the night a heartbeat later. Green eyes focused on the area ahead of him while he waited for his comrades to join him. The red head focused on the area in front of him while a shady silhouette slowly approached him from behind.

~x~

I waited impatiently for Hiei to get back. I was getting antsy and wanted to start doing something. Sitting in a tree kept you entertained for only so long, after all. When Hiei finally arrived, I felt bored out of my mind. We all followed Hiei to where Kurama was to be waiting. When we got there, the sight that awaited us was a slightly amusing one. Kurama was still looking in the direction that Chrysanthemous was, but there was a guy wrapped up with vines (whose thorns were piercing his flesh)—there was even a vine covering his mouth. I looked upon the scene in front of me with amusement. Even Yusuke's voice was colored by entertainment when he asked if anything interesting happened while Hiei was gone.

Sparing us all a glance (one that was also filled with mirth), Kurama informed us. "Nothing has happened, aside from the careless demon—that is currently covered in my vines—trying to attack me. Chrysanthemous has not moved from his spot, though it does appear that he knows that we are here," said Kurama as he spared another glance at the demon currently tangled in the fox's vines, though this glance was far less mirthful.

Before any of us could respond, a figure appeared before us: a man with a black, punk-style hair cut. His dark gray eyes were outlined with dark eyeliner making his eyes look much darker. He wore a black jacket that was partly zipped, though he wore no shirt under it. In fact, the opened sides of his jacket showed his tattoo: a pair of snakes that were facing each other, looking as if they were about to attack each other; the two snakes were joined at the base, forming what could almost pass as a heart-shaped figure on his chest. The sleeves of the jacket were rolled up halfway to reveal his darker skin from forearm down to his fingers, which had a single ring on his middle finger and pinky. Black jeans that clung to his body and black shoes completed his look.

~x~

Everyone was surprised to see Chrysanthemous standing before them. Chrysanthemous smirked at the shocked group before he spoke. "Hello, I assume you are the Spirit Detectives, and you are here to 'bring me to justice' as they say. Well, I am not going to simply hand myself over. How about we have some fun, shall we?" A feminine scream pierced the night air and the entire group turned to see Kimiko being enclosed by a dome of shadows. The shadows quickly engulfed Kimiko, flattened, and slithered over to Chrysanthemous before they disappeared into Chrysanthemous' own shadow. Chrysanthemous' evil chuckle resounded in the woods around the detectives as he, too, was swallowed by the shadows and slithered away from the detectives in the direction Kurama had previously been watching.

~x~

Shadows surrounded me and it was so dark that I would not have been able to see my hand in front of my face could I move it there; my body had become immobilized when I had been kidnapped from the team. Some time later I felt my body land on solid ground, and the shadows started dissipating. Once the shadows were finally gone entirely, I regained my mobilization. I looked around me before spotting Chrysanthemous off to the left of me looking me over. A purely male smirk slithered across his face in a way that made me want to punch his lights out, or make the wind that surrounded him vanish causing him to suffocate, either was fine in my opinion. I bit back a comment that was likely to get me in trouble (as I would basically be telling him to fuck off) and instead resorted to merely glaring at the bastard. He chuckled before speaking.

"You should be honored, Little One, hanyous don't normally spike my interest." Before I could stop the look of confusion, it surfaced on my face. "You are a half-demon, half-human girl. Such a species does not normally interest me, but you, on the other hand, you interest me. And I am determined to find out why that is, and then make sure that it never happens again. Permanently." The sinister smile that followed his minor monologue sent chills down my spine. Something told me that I was screwed…like 'Fucked-Up Beyond All Recognition' screwed.

* * *

_If you didn't get what FUBAR stands for, look at the last line of the story._

_So I was planning on making this story drag out a little longer, but I'm getting tired of dragging it out, so I'm hoping to be writing longer chapters so I can include the things that I want to happen and not make this story like 100 chapters long. XD Depending on how everyone reacts to this story from now on is whether or not I'll start planning to make a sequel to this story. I pretty much have what I want to happen in this story from now on, so it shouldn't take too long to get this to where I want it here soon. Don't worry; the end of the story isn't going to happen for a little while still, I'm just trying to plan ahead. I'm also going to try to start updating more steadily now, but the last two weeks of this month are going to be iffy because that's when I'm getting out of school and have a lot of stuff to take care of. So, the more feedback I get, the more free time I have, and the more motivation I get (mainly from the reviews that I receive) will get me to start posting more regularly. :P_

_So, tell me what you thought of the chapter. Anything you really liked? Something you think needs corrected? Anything you want to say about something you think is going to happen? Oh, and if you do check out Wolvesrain17's picture she drew for this story (which I suggest you do) and you notice some things that aren't exactly lining up with what has been described for the characters, don't worry. That'll be coming up in the next chapter or two, so you won't be too confused…hopefully. Anyway, sorry (again) for not updating in a while, and I hope to get some reviews. Please?_


	29. 28 Emergency

_Responses to reviews:_

_**Wolvesrain17:**__ No problem; you did an awesome job and people should see it. ^-^ I shall try to make the chapters longish :P and I shall start thinking about that sequel, but it will be far shorter than this story, probably about 15 chapters or so. I don't know for certain, though. Thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. ^-^_

_**F3ARTH3RIPP3R: **__Indeed, Kimiko got captured…again XD She shall. :P Thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^-^_

* * *

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

**Part 28: Emergency**

Chrysanthemous walked toward me, but for every step he took, I had to take two steps backward just to keep my distance from him. It was either fight or flight, and I chose flight; unfortunately, I didn't think I could get away with actually flying away. He had a predatory look on his face as he watched me back away from him like a mouse trying to run from a cat. Along with the predatory look was amusement. He was obviously found it amusing that I was opting for the flight rather than the fight of the saying. Why was it that I was the one to always get kidnapped?

~x~

"Damn it! How could he have gotten her! How did we all let him slip past us to get to Kimiko?" The rest of the team watched as Yusuke started swearing again as he thought about how Chrysanthemous had gotten past all of the team to get to Kimiko. Hiei and Kurama were watching the hideout and concocting a plan on how to rescue Kimiko while Yusuke ranted and raved, Kuwabara yelled at Yusuke, and Ryumi stood in place silently, thinking that the detectives really were not that good at protecting the young girl.

"_Hn. You have no room to speak." _Ryumi glanced over at Hiei in time to see him looking back toward Kurama. Ryumi wondered what had gotten up his ass; Hiei was normally not that condemning of her thoughts. In fact, that was pretty much the first time she thought Hiei had said anything about them. Ryumi rolled her eyes. Of course, the one time he would say anything about her thoughts was the time that she was badmouthing the detectives' skills…about their inability to protect Kimiko. Ryumi's eyes widened as she put the pieces together. Hiei and Kimiko had to be involved, even at least a little in order for him to react the way he did. It made sense, Ryumi mused, that they would be together after all the confusion and chaos that Kimiko had felt the last couple of weeks concerning the fire youkai. _"Not a word, Onna,"_ Hiei's voice growled in her head. She barely had the time to acknowledge his threat before the group was off toward Chrysanthemous' hideout. It seemed that while Ryumi was distracted by her thoughts, the boys had thought of a plan to get Kimiko back and bring down Chrysanthemous. Ryumi shook her head as she ran alongside Yusuke. She really needed to learn to pay more attention to her surroundings some times.

~x~

"You could join my side. There will be no deceit between the two of us. We will have nothing holding us from our true potential." I glared at the bastard in front of me, trying to get me to join him in taking over the world. Why do they always want to take over the world? Why couldn't they just be happy with a city or country or something? I supposed the reason for such an outlandish dream was the saying 'Go big or go home,' but one would never know.

"I think I'll pass. I don't want to join forces with the likes of you. And what the hell do you mean by _no deceit between us_? My teammates are not deceiving me!"

"Oh, aren't they?" I narrowed my eyes at the demon before me. He smirked at me before he spoke. "Have you ever found out what was under the bandana of the short one? Have you ever found out what it was that redhead used to truly do? Have you found out what the other hanyou's ancestry was? Or the female's? Have they ever told you what kind of power the human has? Are you sure that what they told you is actually what happened and not just something that they came up with to tide you over?" While he spoke, my resolve started to wane. Was what he was saying true? Have my friends really been lying to me?

I shook my head. He was a manipulation demon, as well as a shadow demon. He was trying to get into my mind and confuse me. Try to get me to believe him and not my friends. He was trying to get me to join his side and leave my friends—though what he was saying was starting to make a little sense.

I had never really found out what was under Hiei's bandana, and while I knew that Kurama had been a thief and is a fox demon, I didn't really know much more about him than that. I cannot remember if Yusuke ever told me what his ancestry was, even though that's not normally something you would tell someone. And other than summoning his normal spirit sword, I really didn't know much about Kuwabara's powers. And how was I to know that everything that Ryumi told me was true? She was a thief after all, and thieves tend to lie. Maybe Chrysanthemous was right and I really had been deceived by the people that I call friends.

~x~

Chrysanthemous' smirk grew as he saw Kimiko's uncertainty about her friends become prominent on her face. He was sure that one more thing that helped him show that the team was lying to her would get her to turn away from the team and join his side. And he would show that thing to her as soon as the detectives arrived at his hideout. He felt one of the shadows (that he placed at the entrance of the cave so that, if someone stepped on it, he would be notified that someone was coming) break then join the other shadows surrounding it. It was time to put his plan into action.

~x~

"Little One, if you still need proof that your friends are lying to you, I shall show you their true forms." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Aren't they already in their _true forms_, as you call it?" He chuckled at my naivety.

"You poor child, they have all lied to you. Let me show you so that you can know of your ignorance and learn from it." He waved his hand, casting a purple cloud of what looked like powder over the entire area…right as the five people that I once considered friends turned the corner and entered the main chamber of the cave.

What happened next was shocking and terrifying; the team started to transform before my very eyes. The only difference with Kuwabara, however, was that he was even more confused than usual. Ryumi, also, looked pretty much the same, but there was now a black dragon tattoo circling her left arm, ending at the base of her wrist. Yusuke had somehow lost his shirt and black marks covered his chest, arms, and face. He did not look too much different either, until he opened his mouth to ask Kurama what was going on; he now had fangs. My eyes darted to the bright blur of color next to Yusuke. A tall male was standing next to Yusuke. He had silver hair, as well as silver fox ears sprouting out of the top of his head. His clothes were a white robe, and a silver tail swayed behind him. It took me a while to realize that the fox demon was Kurama, and when I did, my breathing started to become irregular and quicken its pace. However, when I let my eyes wander to Hiei, I nearly screamed in horror.

Hiei had turned _green_. Not only that, but his body was covered in eyes. His bandana was gone; a third eye with a purple iris took its place. His hair defied gravity more than usual. He also had claws and fangs. As I took in the team's transformations, they looked at me and each other with surprised eyes. (Unknown to me, I had changed as well. The only difference, though, was my hair. It changed from all black to ruby bangs with the rest of my hair possessing a ruby tint to it.)

"Now do you see what they have been hiding from you, Little One?" Chrysanthemous whispered to me. (It slightly irked me that he kept calling me that, but as I was about half his height, I understood why.) I was too shocked to properly respond, so I nodded, pulling up a guarded look and stepping back when Yusuke reached out toward me.

~x~

"_They deceived you; they don't deserve your trust. Come with me, and I shall never deceive you as they have. I shall protect you from their deceitful ways._" Hiei narrowed his eyes toward the shadow/manipulation demon hybrid. His eyes were glowing purple as he spoke into Kimiko's ear. What was worse was that she believed every word Chrysanthemous said. _"I can help you, but first you must help yourself. For them to never hurt you again, Little One, you must never give them the chance; you must fight them and send them away before they will ever stop deceiving you and leave you to your peace. Go now, they will not expect it."_

Kimiko nodded slowly before she rushed toward Yusuke with the most speed Hiei had ever seen the onna use. Upon reaching the detective, Kimiko started throwing punches at him. Yusuke was then forced to simply block her attacks while she assaulted him, forcing him to move backward to avoid getting hit.

"Damn it! Why did we have to train her so well?" Yusuke shouted as he continued to block Kimiko's punches while backing up. "Damn it, Kimiko, stop! I don't want to hurt you!"

"You should have thought of that before you all lied to me!" shouted Kimiko, tears starting to build in her eyes but never falling, before she swung her arm around, knocking Yusuke back with a gust of wind. Kimiko then started to combine the use of her elements with her hand-to-hand combat, creating even greater difficulties for Yusuke to avoid getting hurt or hurting Kimiko in the process.

Chrysanthemous watched the scene unfold with darkening eyes. He now realized what had drawn him to the young hanyou: her potential power that, if trained correctly, could be used to destroy all foes in her path, and if he partook of her—in more than one way—her power could be his. His mouth watered at the realization. Glancing at the situation he was in, he decided that it was best to leave while they still could. "Little One." Kimiko stopped throwing attacks to glance at Chrysanthemous. "Come." Kimiko flew back to his side, causing Yusuke to stumble, as he had been holding Kimiko's punches away from his body. Yusuke's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

Hiei watched with narrowed eyes as Kimiko went back to the demon who had manipulated her. Once she was in front of Chrysanthemous, he placed a hand on her shoulder and, glancing up at the team of detectives, said, "Until next time," before the shadows surrounded the two figures. It had happened so fast that no one had the time to process what was happening until the two demons had vanished.

* * *

_So I got the idea of the shadow manipulation from the Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog". I figured it was an interesting ability, and thought it would work out wonderfully with the manipulation half of Chrysanthemous' ancestry._

_So, I checked the stats for this story, and it said that 125 people read the last chapter. _One hundred and twenty-five! _I'm happy with that, but I only got two reviews. _Two!_ Two reviews out of one hundred and twenty-five people is not very promising. I appreciate those who did review, very appreciative, but I would like to have more people reviewing for this story to continue. If I'm not getting much feedback, I'm not going to be able to improve this story or even want to keep updating. I know that it was a holiday weekend last week, so I'm not too disappointed. But, I also know that it doesn't take much to click the review button, sign in, and summit a review. So please, send me a review. I enjoy being able to respond to your reviews and keep a conversation going with you; it makes writing this story (as well as any story) worth it. I don't mean to sound negative all the time, but some feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I hope to hear from you all._

_~Selli_


	30. 29 Aftermath

_**FireStorm1991**__: Yeah, I didn't exactly want to have it happen just yet, but it seemed to fit perfectly, so I made it happen. Hiei, doesn't really know what to think right now, but you'll soon find out! ^-^ Thanks for reviewing!_

_**F3ARTH3RIPP3R: **__I know, there are just too many inspirations around me, but I can't use them all, and it's kinda sad. XD I get a few ideas from movies, but like you, I normally get my inspiration from dreams. I think it's more fun that way, more of your own imagination, and there's less of an influence from the outside world, but that might just be me. XD Thanks for reviewing!_

_**Animechic32541: **__Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you like Senko; I like her too. In fact, if I ever had a domesticated, talking wolf, I would want her. XD Sadly, I don't foresee that _ever_ happening. XD I'm glad that you enjoy this story. I hope you enjoy this next chapter as much as the others. ^-^_

_**Side note: I now have 100 reviews! Thank you all who have reviewed, and please keep reviewing. To those who haven't reviewed, you should! :P Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**_

**_CONGRATULATIONS_**_** TO ANIMECHIC32541 FOR BEING THE 100TH REVIEWER! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO! *throws confetti* *hands cookie* Good job! But she shouldn't get all the praise, because all of you that reviewed made this possible, so as a treat, you all get cookies! *throws cookies all around* Thank you all again!**_

* * *

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

**Part 29: Aftermath**

"Damn it!" Yusuke growled as he looked around the dimly lit cave. It was obvious that Kimiko and Chrysanthemous were no longer in the cave, but the stubborn brunet refused to believe such things and continued his searching.

"Yusuke, there is nothing we can do now. Cussing will not change a thing," said the calm voice to Yoko. The group of five was still in their demon forms (except for Kuwabara) even after Chrysanthemous had left a while ago. Yusuke sighed after he punched one of the walls of the cave.

"Yeah, you're right Kurama." Another sigh passed through the normally cocky brunet's lips before he straightened and turned to face the team. "Let's go home." Everyone nodded and followed Yusuke out of the cave and outside where Yusuke called for a portal to take them to Koenma's office. Once all the team passed through the portal, the team noticed Koenma—in teenage form—sitting in his chair looking quite pensive and downcast.

"This is not good, Detectives. Kimiko has been kidnapped." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"No shit, Binky-Breath. We were there when it happened."

Koenma looked up at Yusuke sharply. "I don't think you all quite understand the gravity of this situation. Not only could Kimiko be made to join the forces of evil, thus losing her mind to the thirst for power, but she could also lose her powers—and her life." Yusuke spoke slowly, saying that he didn't understand. "When an elementalist maiden is converted to the dark side, she loses the sense of herself; she is consumed by rage and eagerness for power, and will stop at nothing to gain more power, even if it means killing those she loves. This happened with the last elementalist maiden, Hitomi.

"Hitomi was to be the greatest demon in all three worlds, and she would have too—had she not watched her entire family's murder take place before her very eyes. She became an elementalist maiden, a being that cannot be defeated by any other demon save another elementalist maiden, and killed the demons responsible for her family's death. After that, her heart slowly started to harden toward everyone and everything.

"Before her transformation, she had been reluctant to kill, but after, she was more than willing, and eventually gained pleasure from killing the demons I had sent her to bring in. Soon, though, those demons did not suffice, and she soon started to murder every being that came in her path—demons and humans alike. Eventually, she was about to kill her teammate when he approached her about her killings. At this point in time, I had been ignorant of what she was doing, as her partner had kept it a secret from me for fear that I would punish her for her crimes; he had been correct in assuming so.

"When he had confronted her about it, she nearly killed him. It was after that, that her partner decided to make her sins known to me. This caused me to have to send in others to capture her; a situation that I had not wanted considering it had happened once before with Sensui: a Spirit Detective turning from protecting innocents to killing them. I hadn't wanted a repeat. It had torn me apart." Koenma took a moment to take in a shuddering breath, refusing to shed tears for his old spirit detectives. After a second of gathering his composure, he continued with his story that he was telling. "When I had sent a team in, they returned shortly after, claiming she was nowhere to be found. I then told the trackers that Hitomi had become the priority of tracking down and capturing. It had taken them all by surprise, but they followed my orders nevertheless. The team quickly found a lead and started to track her whereabouts; I accompanied them in hopes of settling things without the need of violence. However," a sullen tone overtaking Koenma's voice as he continued, "by the time the trackers and I arrived where she was said to be, it was too late; Hitomi had already killed her first victim as a rogue: her own partner."

The team stilled as Koenma continued. "When we arrived, she stood above his blooded body, blood covering her clothes, hands, face, and even around her mouth. She had turned back toward us, gave me a malicious smile and said, 'Ah, Koenma, so good for you to finally show up. I was wondering if you were just going to allow them to kill me or try to save me yourself. Good to know that you still hold a soft spot for me even after all the things you've heard about me.'" Koenma shook his head, his face wary, before saying that he had explained that after Hitomi had spoken, Koenma had asked her if she had really committed those crimes. Another head shake. "She had looked me directly in the eye and said that she _had_ killed all those people, and that she would kill _more_ in the attempt to obtain more power. After I asked why she had killed those people, she said that she did it to make her stronger, that doing so made her power increase and she could feel nothing but the need to gain more power. After that, she blew us all back with a gust of wind, turning the water that surrounded her—in the form of blood—into fog to make her escape.

"By the time that everything cleared," Koenma shrugged, "she was gone."

It was quiet before Kurama asked, "So if Kimiko were to become like that, how would she lose her powers and her life?"

Koenma sighed. "If she became like Hitomi around Chrysanthemous, he would surely take advantage of her need for more power and trick her into staying with him forever. He could gain her powers indirectly by controlling her." Koenma's eyes became hard and looked at the team hard as he stated, "Or if he didn't want her around, he could simply kill her to truly gain her powers as his own. Because she is not an elementalist maiden, she is still susceptible to death. However, if she were to become an elementalist maiden (as I believe she is supposed to) she would no longer need to fear death, unless Hitomi decided to kill her. And with Hitomi's greater age, it would be more likely that Kimiko would die, thus allowing Hitomi to gain all the powers that Kimiko possesses that Hitomi does not."

~x~

I stared around at the new lair with disinterest; it was very similar to the last one: a cave in the middle of nowhere filled to the brim with shadows. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Did he ever go for a different kind of décor? It seemed not, but who was I to say anything?

"Little One, come over here for a second." I stifled my anger at the nickname as I walked over to where Chrysanthemous was standing at the mouth of the cave. Once I stood next to him, he put his arm around me and pulled me to where I was standing in front of him. He then wrapped his other arm around me and pulled me close to his chest. "Where you romantically involved with any of those traitors you once called friends?" Chrysanthemous whispered after he bent down to my ear. A feeling of disgust coursed through my body and I resisted the urge to pull away. Instead, I stayed in place and thought about what he asked me.

Should I really tell him about Hiei? I mean, it wasn't like we ever really did anything. The entire time after that last confrontation, the most we ever did was kiss; and I was the one to initiate it. Did that even count as 'romantically involved'? I decided to play it safe. "No, there was no one romantically involved with me." This was true for the most part, Hiei wasn't romantically involved with me; he was just involved with me…sort of.

"Good," he murmured, "I don't think I could stand the thought of someone else being involved with you." I turned around to see his eyes glowing in the moonlight. His normally dark gray eyes were now glowing purple. I knew that whatever was going on with his eyes were not something that was for my benefit. I also knew, deep down, that there was no way that he could care that much for me in such a short amount of time, but at the moment, I didn't care. I had finally found someone who openly showed his affections for me. He seemed to sense the resistance fall away from me before he leaned down to plant a chaste kiss to my lips.

After the short kiss ended, my entire being felt dirty, like I had betrayed myself by allowing Chrysanthemous to kiss me. I was sure that the reason behind the feeling of betrayal was due to the fact that I was still technically 'with' Hiei, which as far as dating or relationships went, wasn't really all that great; we didn't try to get to know each other better—well I tried, but he never gave anything—and when we were together we hardly talked, mainly sitting in silence until it was early in the morning or until I got tired, then I would give him a quick kiss goodnight and then head back to my own room for bed. There wasn't even really friendship in the relationship we had…if you wanted to call it a relationship. But even with all of the lack of an actual relationship that I had with Hiei, I still felt guilty. I found I was completely exasperated with myself upon making such a discovery.

~x~

Chrysanthemous bit back a chuckle. The little elementalist demon was obviously torn between believing Chrysanthemous and beating herself up for allowing him to kiss her. He found it utterly amusing. All he would have to do would be wait around for a while until she truly trusted him, and then he would take her life; thus stealing her powers and becoming even more powerful in the process. Chrysanthemous only hoped that the annoyances known as the Spirit Detectives did not find them before that happened.

* * *

_Oh snap! What's going to happen to Kimiko? Will Chrysanthemous have his way? Or will the detectives find them before he has the chance to do anything? Find out next time!_

_So, I'm very happy that _Tamer of the Dragon_ now has 100 reviews! Whooo Hoooo! *throws confetti* Yay! Thank you all to those who reviewed! You helped make this possible! Thank you to those who haven't reviewed, but still are reading this story. It's because of you all that this story has come this far. ^-^ _


	31. 30 Shadows Dancing

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

_**Responses to Reviews: **_

_**FireStorm1991: **__HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm going to have to agree with you, Hiei should definitely show some affection to Kimiko. _

_**F3ARTH3RIPP3R**__: Yeah, people do a lot of different things for inspiration. I listen to music as well; in fact, I'm listening to music while I'm writing this! XDD It's funny how great minds think alike. :P_

_**Knight Ryder:**__ 1) I don't mind that you're a little late reading this story; that's just part of the joy of writing: getting more people that want to read my stories! ^-^ I thank you for your review and I am very happy that I have gotten another fan. ^-^ 2) Also, thank you for the clever and funny comment about "FUBAR" ^-^ Made my day! ^-^ 3) I had been wanting to do something for Kimi and Ryumi to have something different about their appearance, but I hadn't been able to think of what to do for a while—until the idea about the tattoo came to mind…and then I realized it was a lot like Hiei's and I had to laugh at myself. No, I have no plans for her to be able to summon the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, but things can be changed if needed.4) Chrysanthemous is by far one of my favorite bad guys that I've created. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the rest of them. _

* * *

**Part 30: Shadows Dancing**

Kurama was in the kitchen preparing lunch when Koenma summoned the detectives to his office, announcing that his tracking team found something that could lead to Chrysanthemous' capture—and Kimiko's rescue. On the way to where Koenma had summoned a portal, Kurama's gaze slid around the room and frowned. The normally slight mess (showing that the house was indeed lived in) that cluttered the dwelling had become relatively spotless. This might not cause any other person to frown, but the reason behind the sudden cleaning spree was the cause for the fox demon to frown.

Ryumi had been the one to clean everything until there was nothing left to clean; and then she had still cleaned more. It hadn't been too long after the team had returned home after Kimiko's departure before Ryumi had looked around at the state the house was in and got up and started cleaning and tidying up. She cleaned every room but the bed rooms for the other detectives; she especially left Kimiko's room as it was. Senko had taken a sudden liking to Ryumi as well during Kimiko's absence and had been constantly at the girl's side the entire time. At the moment, Senko was following Ryumi through the portal and into Koenma's office.

~x~

Sweat was dripping from my body as I trained with Chrysanthemous. Chrysanthemous was pushing me to my limits in what I could manipulate and I had contemplated on whether or not I wanted to start using my element manipulation to shut him up, but whenever the thought crossed my mind, it would leave instantly. Chrysanthemous was having me work with fire the most because it was the element that I was the least proficient at manipulating. So far, I had gotten about five burns, some more major than others. Thankfully, they all were on my arms and hands and not on my face or anywhere else.

After a while later of trying to control the fire and morph it into what weapon I wanted, Chrysanthemous called the training session to a stop for a while. I breathed a sigh of relief and sank onto my knees due to exhaustion. He was practically training me to death! The guys had never had me work like this. The thought of them made my heart ache. Now that I was away from them, I missed them even more it seemed. I sighed before standing when Chrysanthemous declared the break was over and got back into position and started summoning fire into my palm.

I felt the heat surge through my arm before condensing in my hand and I felt the release as the fire formed atop my palm. I concentrated on reforming the ball into a whip. Once that was done, I focused on straightening it into a sword. I got about halfway before the fire burnt me. I dropped the fire with a yelp and started shaking my hand in attempt to alleviate the pain, which of course didn't help.

~x~

Chrysanthemous nearly growled in frustration. The elementalist was worthless! She couldn't control all of her elements and she was not all that physically strong. Chrysanthemous did not even know why he kept her. Perhaps it was for the potential that she was supposed to have. Either way, Chrysanthemous was debating on whether or not to lift his hold over her and have some fun with her before he killed her. A malevolent smirk slithered onto his lips at the prospect of the fun that would ensue if he did do that. He refrained from licking his lips; the fun would be that delicious he was sure.

**~x~**

"Detectives, I believe we have found where they are hiding." A unanimous sigh of relief was shared within the group of detectives. "After much searching, we have discovered a cave not far from a town close to where he last was. There are woods completely surrounding it, so it is a little hard to tell if they are actually there, but we are almost positive that they are.

"Your job, Detectives, is to find the cave, capture Chrysanthemous, and bring Kimiko back home. I will send you as close as I can get you for now via portal. I want Chrysanthemous brought in dead or alive at this time. Just make sure that Kimiko comes back. Senko, I believe that you could be very helpful for this mission so you will be going with them this time." Everyone nodded. "Good luck everyone."

The portal was opened and everyone walked through and Koenma closed the portal with a sigh. He only hoped that everything went smoothly and that Kimiko would be brought back to the team; they were all really suffering because of it.

~x~

Chrysanthemous had the young elementalist stop training for the day. The two of them went back inside the cave and that was when Chrysanthemous decided to have a little bit of fun. He closed off the entrance of the cave with shadows and pulled some of the shadows away within the cave to create the illusion of light before he released some of his control over the girl. She looked around the cave confused before looking back at him and asking him what was going on.

"Nothing, my dear, do not worry." He walked over to the make-shift bed and patted next to him. She walked over more slowly than usual, which was to be expected; he withheld a smirk. Let the fun begin.

When she sat down, he gently moved her to where she was lying down. Once she was on her back, he crawled and straddled her; he then completely released his control over her. Her eyes started to clear and before long she was staring around in confusion. When she looked up and saw him towering above her, she started to struggle. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. The smirk was in full bloom now and he could tell that the girl was getting desperate to get away from him.

He grinned and started lifting her shirt when a thudding sound made him stop. His head snapped toward the entrance of the cave and stared in shock as cracks of light were made into the wall of shadows that Chrysanthemous had created.

~x~

Senko slammed her body against what looked like empty space at the mouth of the cave. Ryumi stared at the wolf in confusion. "Um, Senko, there's nothing there."

"_Bull-shit-there-isn't!"_ The wolf exclaimed rather loudly; too loud for Hiei's liking. The wolf really did belong to the onna. The fox had once told Hiei that the humans say that the animal starts to resemble the owner; the case was true in this case in Hiei's opinion. Hiei's eye started to twitch when the canine continued to yell at the purple haired woman who couldn't hear her. Ryumi looked at Hiei questioningly.

"Can you hear what she's saying?" Hiei gave a short—and annoyed—nod. "What's she saying?" Hiei quickly said that there was something on the other side of those shadows. "They're here." The entire group nodded and prepared to start fighting. Hiei ignited his fists with the living flames and smashed into the shadows causing them to break and slink back toward their master. The group followed after the shadows and quickly found Chrysanthemous—who was straddling Kimiko's waist; her shirt was halfway up her stomach.

The sighed made the blood in Hiei's veins boil, but he hid it well and did nothing. The rest of the group stood their ground and waited for Chrysanthemous to make a move. Said shadow/manipulation demon stared at the group with an expression that portrayed shock mixed with annoyance. It was obvious Chrysanthemous had not expected the detectives to find them so quickly and was annoyed because they had.

Yusuke stepped forward once and glared at the demon towering over Kimiko, who started to struggle. "Get the hell offa her." The fact that Yusuke was speaking calmly told the short fire demon that the detective was pissed. To the statement, Chrysanthemous chuckled.

"You honestly believe that I am just going to _let_ her leave now?" He scoffed. "Her power, what little she has, will be mine, and there's nothing you can do to stop me." The next moment the entire team saw was black.

~x~

Chrysanthemous chuckled as his shadows danced as the Spirit Detectives tried to escape from them. He turned his attention back to the girl beneath him. He knew he had to take care of her now because the detectives wouldn't be held off for long by his shadows.

* * *

_I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry that it took me this long to post the next chapter! T-T I had a major case of writer's block and then school started up again last month and it's just been a little chaotic. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter; you should shoot me a review to tell me what you thought of it, even if you didn't really care for it, just please make sure to tell me _why_ you didn't. ^-^_

_Also, I have a poll going on my profile for a new story that I'm thinking about doing. I'm also having a bit of problems with my Draco story too. ^-^; You should let me know which story you want me to post on here next. I will still try to work on my other two stories, as well as my Switching Sexes multishot, but I need something else to work on too…again. ^-^; Well, until next time, which hopefully won't be nearly as long in between as this time._


	32. 31 Awakening

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

_**Responses to Reviews:**_

_**Knight Ryder:**__ Haha! Thank you for forgiving me :P Pretty much. Things should get much better by the end of this chapter though. :P_

_**NameWithNoMeaning:**__ Well, thank you kindly! ^-^_

_**MidnightRose3939:**__ I'm always happy to receive another reader! ^-^ Thank you for reviewing!_

* * *

Chrysanthemous held out his hand and a dagger of shadows formed him his palm. My eyes widened as I stared up at the man that towered above me. He had my body pinned beneath his; there was no way for me to escape. I couldn't manipulate fire to dissipate the shadows; I couldn't get a solid enough grip on the ground to create a rock to knock the guy off of me. The same could be said for water, and I couldn't create a strong enough gust of wind to knock him off me either. I feared for my life the moment before I saw the dagger swinging downward and toward my heart. I closed my eyes before I felt something pierce my skin. I vaguely became aware of the pain and the scream that I let out because of it as my eyes opened briefly. The last thing I saw before blackness consumed me was the detectives escaping the shadows and staring at me in horror.

~x~

The detectives escaped the hold of the shadows just in time to see the life slowly fading from Kimiko's eyes; a dagger of shadows lodged into her chest. Anger consumed the group. Yusuke looked from Kimiko's motionless body to where her murderer stood over her, grinning, while anger spread through Yusuke like a wild fire; his body shaking through his anger. "You bastard." At his muttered curse, the entire group attacked as one. Chrysanthemous was able to dodge every attack the group threw at him by retreating into the shadows and attacking from there. The group was starting to tire but one look at Kimiko's still body was fuel enough to get them all moving with as much fervor as before.

The battle continued because no one could get a hold of the slippery bastard; every time the group thought they had him, he would just disappear into his shadows and start attacking them from behind. It infuriated the hell out of Hiei. If only he could get the bastard to hold still long enough, his living flames could take care of him and his shadows. However, every time the fire demon got close enough, the shadow/manipulation demon would slip away and move his shadows.

~x~

I was floating somewhere dark; too dark for my liking. I tried to coax out my flames but to no avail. So I was stuck traveling through the shadows in ignorance of where I was going. A small glimmer of light appeared before me and I willed myself to head in that direction, thankful when my body actually listened and headed in said direction. I was momentarily blinded as I was immersed in the light and felt a sort of pulsating sensation throughout my body. My senses started returning slowly as if I was rising from the depths of water.

~x~

The battle continued until a surge of demonic energy startled the entire group into looking over at Kimiko's body. She was starting to pulsate and radiate demonic energy of immense quantities. Her appearance started to shift: her hair started to gain a ruby tint and her bangs bled to ruby. Her body started twitching and the wind around her starting picking up, lifting her to float above the ground as her energy level continued to soar. When her eyes snapped open, they were a vibrant shade of green. She looked around the room, eyes darting back and forth, until her eyes came to rest upon Chrysanthemous. Her eyes narrowed and she began to walk forward; flames dancing in her palms.

The entire group stared at Kimiko in wonder, most of them wondering how she was alive; she did die right? Chrysanthemous conjured shadows around him, but Kimiko threw one of her balls of flames at him and the shadows dissipated. That didn't stop him from trying again, however. Like the first time, every time he conjured shadows, she threw a fire ball at him making the shadows dissipate. A cylinder of earth enclosed around Chrysanthemous preventing him from escaping. The rest of the detectives watched in surprise as Kimiko stood still for a moment before her eyes rolled up and she fainted. Senko was behind her in a second, making sure that she didn't hit the ground. Ryumi walked up to Senko and Kimiko and picked Kimiko up with relief clear on her face. (Thankfully, Kimiko's wings were folded against her back and out of the way.) Ryumi and Senko walked out of the cave leaving the now unconscious Chrysanthemous to the guys as she called for a portal to take Kimiko to the infirmary.

After Chrysanthemous was taken care of, the entire group went to see how Kimiko was doing in the infirmary. The doctor said that while she lost a great deal of energy again, she would be fine; her fully awakened demon blood would make sure of that.

* * *

_Considering the fact that I'm snowed in at home, I figured I could try my hand at working on this story again. I'm sorry that it's taking me so long to update this story. I also regret to inform you all that come next year, I'm going to be extremely busy: full-time college student and working two part-time jobs. I will still try to work on my stories as much as possible, but with the crazy schedule, no one can tell how long it will be until my next update. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all have a happy New Year. __I'm also sorry that this chapter is so short. _

_I also have a poll on my profile, i would greatly appreciate it if you all went there and voted for a new story. I'll be working on two stories now on here (i'm discontinuing Tall, Blonde, and Annoying on this website; it's still up on Mibba if you want to read it). Reviews and votes would be very nice, please and thank you! ^-^_


	33. 32 Transformation

_**Tamer of the Dragon**_

**Responses to Reviews:**

_**Skyla15699:**__ Thank you so much! You are the first to review for this chapter since my last update, and you reviewed twice! Thanks so much! ^_^ I'm glad that you like my story so much. It really encouraged me to continue writing this story. ^_^_

**_Izzymay31: _**_Thanks for the review. I listened and here is an update. ^-^ Hope you enjoy!_

[line]

Ryumi watched as Kimiko's chest rose and fell slowly while she slept Ryumi was simply relieved that the younger girl was back. Senko seemed to be relieved as well, seeing as how she hadn't left her side even after the doctors had come in and told everyone that 'the wolf had to leave'; Senko had only growled at the doctors and sat down, simply stating in that gesture that she was not going anywhere. The rest of the group was debriefed by Koenma on how the mission went while Ryumi was able to come in Kimiko's room and relax a bit while she and Senko waited for Kimiko to wake up. As Ryumi sat and waited for Kimiko to awaken, Ryumi thought of how much Kimiko had changed since she had first met the girl.

Kimiko had been a novice; that much had been certain. She, apparently, was not as much as a novice as she used to be, but she had still been one. It really was amazing to see how far she had progressed in a short amount of time. The accelerated rate might have something to do with her belated discovery of her powers. The fact that she was now a full demon should help her recover sooner rather than later, and for that, Ryumi was thankful. While Kimiko was gone, Ryumi could feel how unwanted she was at the house. While Kurama was nice enough to tolerate her, he did not welcome her and treat her as Kimiko treated her with friendship—or something as close to it as was possible from their pasts.

Dr. Hakushi walked into the room and looked over Kimiko's vitals before turning his attention toward Ryumi. "She seems to be recovering just fine; her demon blood made sure of that. She'll be free to leave once she awakens." Ryumi thanked the kind doctor before he exited the room. Ryumi became very attentive when Kimiko began to stir. Senko perched her front paws on the bed next to her master. Ryumi could see how Senko was hardly able to contain her joy upon seeing Kimiko's body stir.

Slowly, Kimiko began to awaken. Groggy due to lack of energy and just awakening, Kimiko peered up at Ryumi with bleary eyes. It took blinking a few times before Kimiko could clearly see again. "What happened?" Kimiko croaked out; her throat was as dry as the Sahara Desert. Ryumi explained as she retrieved the glass of water beside Kimiko's bed and handing to the weakened woman. Kimiko downed the entire glass in one large gulp. "Easy, Kimiko, the last thing we need is for you to choke on water after you just revived yourself." Kimiko asked what Ryumi had meant by that. Something akin to sorrow flashed across Ryumi's face before started speaking. "Well, you were dead; we felt your energy level deplete into nothing. Because of that, we all started fighting against Chrysanthemous with all our might, but it wasn't enough. He would always disappear back into his shadows before any of us could really do him any definite damage." Ryumi took a breath to calm herself; Kimiko's disappearance and death had really affected her more than she thought it would. That might have had something to do with the fact that Kimiko seemed to be the only one that really welcomed her into the house. "That was when you came back to life and decimated the floor with Chrysanthemous, more or less." Kimiko looked confused. "You were reborn as a full demon."

~x~

I was quiet for a moment and stared at the blanket that covered me. I discovered a loose thread and started picking at it. "Will I ever be normal again?" I whispered quietly. It was made to be a rhetorical question, but Ryumi answered it nonetheless. "I would have to say, no, but who wants to be normal anyway? It's completely over-rated. It's way more fun to be abnormal." I cracked a small smile and the smile that spread over Ryumi's face in response was enough proof for me to know that had been enough for her. The somber moment was adequately dispersed when Senko suddenly jumped upon the bed and attacked me with slobber. Ryumi stood, laughing at me as Senko decided to crawl atop of me and continue licking me to death.

"Senko, stop!" I said laughing. "I think I'm clean enough."

"_I think I missed a spot right here,"_ Senko exclaimed to me as she attacked my face once again. I was thankful for it; it meant that she cared enough about me to not want to see me sad. As my laughter died down, the boys entered the room. Upon the discovery that I had awakened, Yusuke and Kuwabara rushed forward. "Are you feeling better? Are you hurt anywhere? You look different, what happened?" I soon became bombarded with questions of the same likeness and soon discovered that I could not take a large amount of noise.

"Quiet." I spoke softly but a gust of wind aided in getting my comrades' attention. I looked up when a presence approached my bedside. Kurama was standing next to me with a barely visible smile.

"I see that you are now fully one of ours. Congratulations on becoming a full demon." Kuwabara asked (rather too loudly in my opinion) what Kurama meant by me being a full demon.

"Exactly that, Kuwabara; Kimiko is now a full demon." All eyes turned toward the Prince of Spirit World as he entered, still in his toddler form. He approached my bedside and looked up at me with a mix of concern and joy. "Congratulations." I nodded slowly and grabbed onto Senko as a means of staying upright. Said wolf looked at me with concern. I gave her a small smile as a means of reassuring her that I was fine. Senko didn't seem to buy it.

Sen sat down on the bed with me and refused to move after that, even after Koenma dismissed me from the infirmary. When anyone other than Ryumi approached me, they were growled at with malicious intent. Ryumi seemed to notice when even Kurama received a growl. He had risen an eyebrow but backed off nonetheless. Ryumi stepped forward and asked if I could stand. I looked down at the floor before moving myself into a position to try and get up. "Kimiko, you're still too weak from the transformation. Don't even try to walk," Koenma all but snapped at me.

"Then how am I going to get home?" Everyone but Hiei stepped forward to offer to carry me. I smiled a little. Koenma had Yusuke carry me. "Be mindful of her wings, Yusuke."

"Yeah, yeah, Binky Breath; I got it." Looking down at me, he asked, "You ready?" When I nodded, Yusuke picked me up and carried me through the portal back home. "Ya want back in your room, or ya wanna stay down here with everyone?" I said that I would stay down with everyone. He set me on the couch, and after I had gotten comfortable, unconsciousness claimed me again. It seemed as though life would return to some state of normality for me, and for that, I was thankful.

* * *

_I'm not dead! I'm so sorry that it took me this long to get another chapter of this story up. I've been having some real issues in trying to keep working on this story. I'm gonna try my best to keep updating this story, and reviews will help with that. ^-^; Please let me know what you thought of this chapter; while not much happened, it was still kinda needed. I hope to hear from you guys! Until next time!_

_~Saph_


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